I Want To Believe
by Clarissa
Summary: Members of the gang must endure emotional turmoil as a mystery culprit reigns terror on Sunnydale. Meanwhile, there is a sci-fi freak on campus, the secrets of Caediloche are revealed and magic is in the air.
1. Default Chapter

Clarissa Maycock   
  
Episode :- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"  
  
Use of "Of Hope" by John Keats  
Use of "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits.  
Use of "The Devil You Don't Know" by Face to Face, and "Pain (Slayer Mix)" by Four Star Mary, from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" soundtrack.  
  
EPISODE NAME : " I WANT TO BELIEVE"  
  
I have written it in an easy to read FanFic format as I believe it is a good compromise between a script and a book.  
It gets better as you read on, so stick with it....  
  
This episode is one of a series which I have written parallel to the fourth series of   
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" called the "SCIENCE AND NATURE" series.  
If you enjoy the episode, why not look out for future ones?  
  
Episode 1  
"I WANT TO BELIEVE"  
By Clarissa Maycock  
WHMAYCO@BTinternet.com  
The first of the "Buffy" episodes written by Clarissa Maycock in the "SCIENCE AND NATURE" series.  
  
Summary: Members of the gang must endure emotional turmoil as a mystery culprit reigns terror on Sunnydale. Meanwhile, there is a sci-fi freak on campus, the secrets of Caediloche are revealed and magic is in the air.  
Rating : Good question. I don't know American ratings but probably PG-13 or less because there's well, hardly anything at all bad in this first one.  
Spoilers : Yep. Have them. Up to general fourth season I suppose - I give away the fact that Spike is neutered.  
Feedback : Oh yipee, yes please. I live for it, well no actually, I write for it. Email above.  
Disclaimer : I own nothing. Not BtVS or any characters. The characters in this episode do not belong to me,  
they are all property of Joss Whedon, Fox Television, Mutant Enemy and the WB network and others,   
probably, and are used without permission for FanFic.   
The new characters, JB AW Mr.H Hu, are all mine. This Episode is for "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer", Season 4.  
If you have not seen up to this point in the progam, you may not want read on until you have.   
I am a big fan of "Buffy....", and I hope you enjoy the episode. I do not own the Keats poem or the Dire Straits or Face to Face songs. I am simply a lowly creature. I am very sad. Please don't sue me, I have about 20p in the whole world - and I've lost that. So, if I find it, you can have it, but please don't sue.  
Distribution : Umm, nowhere, yet, I think. Hope to have my own site to put it on. Also if you want it, contact me and you can have it deffo!! Contact me PLEASE...seriously though, do contact me. Here we go...   
  
EPISODE  
  
COLLEGE EXT. - ESTABLISHING  
  
Int. College.  
  
Buffy and Willow are walking along a dorm corridor, Dingo music is blaring from down the hall, Pain, Slayer Mix by Four Star Mary. Track 15 on Soundtrack and come to door 333.  
"Is this it?" asks Buffy .  
  
"Yeah, it'll only take a minute, it's just Amber wanted me to drop off this bag to someone called Jesse while she went to Wicca group."  
  
"You don't go to that anymore, huh?"   
  
"No way", she mutters, "bunch of fake witches, I mean, what witch do you know organises a chant where they join hands and recite the lyrics to a Backstreet Boys song, or a Chicken Tonight commercial, or praise L'Oreal?....."  
  
Buffy looks plainly at Willow before saying "None" in agreement. She knocks on the door, tapping on it to the beat of the Dingoes music.  
  
".....I mean, why do they do that? It certainly isn't 'cos they're worth it!"  
  
Buffy shrugs.  
  
Willow is still unhappy, "Phoney cronies" she mutters.  
  
Buffy looks round, and glares at Willow. "You chant to the chicken tonight commercial?"  
  
Willow slowly returns the glare. "Should I have left that bit out?"  
  
"Uh huh." Buffy nods. It really was gonna be one of those days, wasn't it?   
"And I thought my out of lesson activities were unusual!" She adds  
  
The door opens to reveal a medium sized dark haired boy sporting glasses which were nearly falling off his nose and and five different watches on his left arm.  
  
"Hi, is it Jesse?, Amber sent me to give you this." Willow held out her right hand which was holding a small brown leather satchel.  
  
The boy first pushed his glasses further back onto his nose. Then took the satchel. It was only then that he looked up at Buffy and Willow. Buffy thought he looked like he had something to hide, perhaps she had been in the slayer game for too long, she thought, and dismissed it.  
  
"Hi, um I'm Jesse, as you seem to know, and, urm..."  
  
Willow looked at him and nodded. Silence fell until Buffy nudged her and a sudden realisation hit her.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sorry, you don't... I'm Willow and this is Buffy. I know Amber from Wicca group and I know Buffy from...well before that." She paused. "I also like to do spells, like Amber, and Buffy likes to do...stuff."  
  
Buffy felt this sum up did not do her justice. "Stuff...Yeah, that I do, occasionally. I also hang, chill, and just bum around. I'm all activity Buffy. But I am very good at the Buff stuff.......That is of course, when I'm not slaying demons."  
  
Jesse looks at her.  
  
Willow looks at her.  
  
"Relax, I'm joking." They all force laughter.  
  
"Geez, tough dorm." She comments.  
  
Willow moves the conversation on. "Jesse, I hope you don't mind, I know I shouldn't have and that I'm a bad, bad, person. It's just when Amber gave the bag to me she told me there was magic stuff in there and I couldn't help but peek. Sorry." Willow tried to make an apologetic face. Buffy saw this and followed suit to help her out.  
  
"That's okay Willow, I don't mind. I just heard that she was part of a magic group...."  
  
"Yeah for magic read 'David Copperfield style'" Willow interrupted.  
  
"......and I asked her if she could make me a dream orb. It's supposed to keep you safe when you sleep."   
  
Once he said this Willow darted a look across at Buffy who was obviously thinking the same thing - is he worried about vampires?,or demons?,or monsters?, and does he know something we don't? And when is this supposed to happen? And how many other people need protecting? And how do we kill it? Willow mouthed the question 'vampires?' to her.   
  
"Why don't you two come in for a sec?"  
  
"Sure", Buffy pushed through to answer some of the questions which arouse in her head, "But why do you need a sleep ball, or whatever it is, what is it you are afrai...." She stopped in mid sentence as she looked around the room and the answer became quite obvious.   
  
It was not as she had expected. Not at all.  
  
Jesse's room was a shrine. A shrine to many things, alien abduction, UFO sightings, government conspiracies. In a nutshell, a shrine to the X-Files.  
  
She scanned the room from one end to the other noticing photographs, magazines, blueprints for Area 51, a book open on his desk at a chapter entitled 'The Real Roswell'. There was even a rather cute inflatable 'life-sized' little grey doll hanging from his ceiling staring a Buffy through oval black eyes.  
  
"Buffy what is...oh" said Willow as she came to stand next to Buffy.  
  
"You must think I'm pretty strange, it's just I needed the orb, I can't let them take me again." Came the explanation from Jesse.  
  
Buffy was about to exclaim "Again?!" when she decided that she really didn't want to go there. Instead she said :-   
  
"You like Science Fiction?" While Buffy spoke, Willow moved over to Jesse's bed, where he had flung the satchel when he turned back into the room. She opened it up and actually picked up the orb inside. Funny, she could have sworn she felt something, like a surge of electricity, when it touched her skin - cool, she thought. Meanwhile Jesse replied:-  
  
"No, not science fiction, I am determined to uncover the conspiracies set by the government and be part of the small team of people scattered across the country who will enlighten the world to the truth about the existence of extra terrestrials and how they have secretly conducted experiments on humans they have abducted since the Roswell crash. My ultimate aim is to gather scientific undeniable evidence which will prove that human life as we know it is indeed of extra terrestrial origin." He this explained with great passion. Buffy looked blank.  
  
They look at each other, silent for a second.  
  
"So, you like science fiction?" Buffy said, apparently oblivious to his explanation.  
Jesse shrugs and sighs.  
  
He says "Yes, I like Science fiction" He replied with a note of resignation. "Just out of interest, did you listen to any of what I just said?"  
  
"Listen? Yes, yes, I did listen, but you used a lot of long words so I became distracted and so it didn't come out like...well....English. But this place is great."  
  
"Yeah, this is great" Willow joined in.  
  
Buffy backed this up with "Incredible, really interesting,"  
  
Willow joined this with "umm, great. I like 'Star Trek', 'I caanota doo iit caaptain'..."  
  
Buffy was now struggling, she tried to show some conviction, "Yeah, its really,...I've said great, right?"  
  
"Umm great" Willow offered.  
  
Jesse could see this was going nowhere. Fast. So, he replied "Great."   
  
It was quiet for a bit as they all shared an awkward moment. It was Willow who broke the silence.  
  
"Still, we'd better get going." Willow observed from her solitary watch.  
  
"Thanks for dropping by."  
  
"Could I just ask you something?" Buffy started  
  
"Shoot"  
  
"What's your view on vampires?"  
  
"Oh, no. I just find that whole Gary Oldman scene corny."  
  
"Oh, okay." Buffy replied, but she didn't know whether to frown or smile.  
  
Buffy turned to leave and for some reason she got an urge to turn back and look at the room one more time, she was perhaps too hard on it. As she turned her eyes took on a life of their own and focused not on Jesse, now flicking through "Dreamcast" magazine on his bed, nor on the 'photographic evidence' of abductions on his desk, but on one space on the wall. Surprised, she studied this for what seemed like forever before Willow tore her away.  
  
Buffy and Willow walk out the door to the corridor  
  
"What is it Buffy, you looked like you entered the twighlight zone."  
  
"Did I?"  
  
"Yeah, well...I mean..not in a bad way, I'm not saying you're hair looked bad and stood on end, it probably wasn't a full twighlight experience you know, more like early evening or teatime thing, or late afternoon?" Willow rambled.  
  
"Willow, stop. It's okay. I was just looking at one of Jesse's posters. I don't know why I even noticed it."  
  
"What did it say, 'Trust no-one', Ooh, or 'I caanota doo it captain'", Willow suggested in her slightly over-the-top accent, just before Buffy butts in,  
  
"Yeah, okay Will, you done that one already. My theory is, it would be okay if you never did it ever again."  
  
Willow gives Buffy an 'upset look'.  
  
"Oh, okay, once more, while the corridor's clear". Willow does, after which Buffy gets back to the point.   
  
"It just said, 'I WANT TO BELIEVE'. I guess he does."  
  
They reach their dorm.  
Buffy + Willow walk into their dorm  
  
"Oh my God! Could that guy get any more weird? I mean, he makes Xander look like the king of cool. Not that Xander's, not...I mean, well you know what I mean." Buffy released as soon as they entered the dorm.  
  
"I know. That dorm was really silly. Can you imagine being so devoted to just a silly TV show with weird costumes."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, who would go in for that stuff?"  
  
"People without real lives, haha", Willow chuckled, "Yeah, people who have exited reality at 50 miles an hour, next stop weirdosville"  
  
"No kidding, he probably keeps weapons in his room just in case they drop by, AND he probably spends his evenings just on watch in fields, waiting for something Spooky to happen."  
  
"Haha-Spooky,"  
  
"Haha, I'm glad we're not into that."  
  
...At that second a werewolf jumps through the window, Willow screams, Buffy reaches for the weapons underneath her bed, she gets out a crossbow and tries to load it with an arrow, the werewolf goes for Willow but Buffy shouts to distract it:-   
  
"Hey fluffy, is it too old fashioned to call before you come round? - I wanted to lay down plastic sheets, now I'll be finding little hairs about the place for weeks!"   
  
It turns, distracted, and throws her across the room to the fridge the other side, she hits her head. The crossbow is flung across to Willow's end of the room leaving Buffy only armed with an arrow, as it turns once again to Willow she send this flying through the air at the werewolf and it hits it in the back. With a cry the werewolf backs away from Willow and jumps out of the window again and off into the night.  
  
They look at each other. "I'd better go and keep watch round the grounds for a couple of hours, in case it comes back."  
  
Willow, still hiding the other side of the bed with only her face visible, just nods. Buffy picks up her bag of weapons and swings it over onto her shoulder.  
  
Before she leaves, she turns to look at the broken window.  
  
"We really need bars..", she says, "...or insurance".  
  
TITLE SEQUENCE ROLLS 


	2. I Want To Believe (2)

Ext. Gile's house - Establishing (Next morning)  
  
Int. Giles's house   
  
Spike is sprawled out on the couch. Gile's voice can be heard on the phone.  
  
"Yes. No Buffy, I don't understand how a werewolf could have attacked you last night - it wasn't a full moon. No. No. Well, I haven't ever heard anything about Christmas werewolves - anyway it isn't Christmas yet, is it? No, I haven't heard anything about Fraternity party werewolves or opening of the new science block werewolves either. No, I don't think any of those things have any significance. No, not the fact that someone has drawn graffiti all over the gym wall - it hardly sounds like the beckoning forth of a werewolf, does it? No, not even the dean having a pimple. But you're both all right? Good. Yes, I'll start reading up and you come over as quickly as you can, see if we can't piece this together. Bye."  
  
Xander now walks out of the bathroom.  
  
"Never, never again is HE coming back into my basement." Xander jabs his finger repeatedly at Spike. "The Talented Mr. Bloody here seems to be able to give immortality, bring about Armageddon, make himself invincible, and even follow the storyline of 'Days of Our Lives'; however he is incapable of using a stove."   
  
Spike plays this down, "So it got a little messy."  
  
"No, no, no. You see Spike, a stain on the floor, or an overturned saucepan, or a damn wall splattered with tomato is messy. What you created was a war zone....."  
  
"No, no, no," Spike starts to mimic under his breath.   
  
".....In fact, people in war zones wouldn't put up with that! Since you moved in, even the cochroaches have moved on - to the sewer, and I must say I've noticed even the moss has been tempted to go the same way. Well, no more!"   
  
"Oh Bloody Hell! It's not exactly the Ritz as it is! Get before and after photographs and nobody sane could tell the difference. Anyway, I didn't ask to live there, in a stinky cellar with a grumpy, pathetic excuse for a monkey who couldn't win in a personality contest even if his opponent was Homer Simpson."  
  
Giles steps in, "Now come on you two, Spike will stay with me again now, and as it has caused so many problems, for the foreseeable future."  
  
Spike doesn't look too impressed "Oh great, goodbye stinksville, hello dullsville."  
  
Giles is unphased "Yes, well I think I'll choose to take that as a compliment. Meanwhile we can all work together to help Buffy."  
  
Xander was stuck a while back. He was still, and staring at Spike, "What did you call me? No - really, I didn't understand."  
  
Spike moans "Oh I'm so BORED! Can't we all just go out tonight and find something to beat the crap out of - you know, something hostile, like a demon, or a fierce looking puppy?"  
  
"William the Bloody seeking other creatures of the night to quell, well there's ironic irony for you" Xander offered.  
  
"Yeah," Spike retorted, "As opposed to all that unironic irony you get."  
  
"Hey, that's the first time I've mentioned anything grammar related since I left School and I only used it then in an essay I wrote analysing my Summer Holiday watching 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers', you'd think I could get a little support."  
  
"You'd think you could get a little brains, maybe this is a bad time to break it to you that most people don't get their diplomas by barbequing the school. Still I can't credit you to the ingestion of the headmaster - that was just luck."   
  
"Hey, that's richer that chocolate chip cookie dough coming from a guy who's spent the last 100 years spectacularly failing to do either of those things and repeatedly got his ass kicked because of it. Stop looking at me like that, Giles!!!!, Spike's gonna bite me"  
  
"Get real! I wouldn't bite you if you were the last chimp left on the planet, and I was the only guy."  
  
"Oh, you SO wonna bite me."  
  
"No, what I want to do is lock you in a putrefying dungeon ( but not a nice one ) with the most annoying person in the world - you're girlfriend will do - then make you drink through a mug which says ' Kiss the Librarian '. Just see how you like it. Then I'd like to really get to know what makes you tick, but not in a nice friendly Montel kinda way, in a torturing Texas chainsaw massacre kinda way.  
  
"Hey pal, I'll have you know that there are creatures of the night just lining up for a piece o' me!"  
  
"Yeah, well it does seem that they are the only people who go out with you."  
  
"Look whose talking Mr. 'Totally insane weirdo floppy haired psychotic fortune telleress with last centuries fashion won't even put up with me'"  
  
"Hey, Dru didn't have floppy hair. And anyway, I dumped her. She just wasn't wild enough for me anymore. You gotta stay spontaneous if you're the big bad."  
  
"How many times Spike, you make Barney the Dinosaur look like one unstoppable, fluffy bag of hate and rage."  
  
"YEAH?"  
  
"YEAH!"  
  
"OH YEAH?"  
  
"OH YEAH!!"  
  
"YEAH, yeah, well you make him look like a mastermind, you can't even hold down a job at as a pizza delivery boy."  
  
"I'll have you know that that was not my fault!". He turns to Giles, who looks puzzled, "There was a hostile creature halting my progress to the delivery stop off point."  
  
"Oh."Giles was instantly interested, "Anything I should read up about?"  
  
"I don't........" Xander started.  
  
Spike cut in with "Ever heard of the house spider? It was on the wall next to the door and he was too chicken to go near it. Little, tiny money one it was."  
  
"Yeah, which I swiftly apprehended." Xander said trying to justify himself.  
  
"Mmm, after 25 minutes of preparation, shivering behind the bed."  
  
"Well I didn't see you trying to help."  
  
"No, I should think bloody not, haven't had such a good laugh in bloody ages. Not since I last had a really good kill."  
  
"When was that, Spike? Last ice age? What did you do? Bore someone to death?"  
  
"Hey, I'll have you know I was a bloody animal!! Unstoppable!! Still am!"  
  
"Yeah, you can even go so far as to give someone the finger without writhing about the floor in uncontrollable pain. Come on Spike, a hedgehog would have a physical and tactical advantage in a ring with you."  
  
"Would not!"  
  
"Well, I know who I'd put my money on."  
  
"What money, you jobless gimp? You're even stealing money from 'Speccy, Hero Librarian' here, and even he's on the dole."  
  
"He's lying Giles, evil, evil,....evil lies.....he lie.......he....he....but ..................evil..................................evil."  
  
"Oh, okay, so that one wasn't strictly true, but you can see it in his eyes anytime he goes near that antique looking lamp of yours, urm......by the way.......is that a family heirloom at all?"  
  
"Spike," Giles quickly steered them onto the subject, "If you help me find this werewolf of Buffy's then I promise I will let you, as you say 'beat the crap out of it', although I fear it will beat the crap out of you. And Xander, I promise, if you help I will let you watch it beat the crap out of Spike."  
  
They both look at Giles, then at each other.  
  
They say in unison. "Fair enough."  
  
Giles sighs in relief.  
  
  
  
***********  
  
Int. Buffy + Willow's dorm.  
  
Willow sighed. She just couldn't concentrate on her English assignment. She was laying out on her bed with a couple of books slumped on her stomach. After Buffy left to go and phone Giles she had felt a bit cold and felt she needed the comfort of the covers, so slipped inside her bed. After that one of the buttons came off her left sleeve. "Perfect," she thought, "God just had to slip in a fashion bummer amidst the regular chaos. I was wondering how this moment could be surpassed in the melancholy stakes."  
  
Really, she was just rambling to herself to keep her from thinking a thought forcing its way up from the bottom of her mind. She couldn't think it. She would not allow herself to think it. Just get back to the poem, just get back to the poem.  
  
She was supposed to be studying 'The Eve of St. Agnes' by John Yeats, and reporting on him as a poet,  
  
'One of the greatest Romantic poets, Keats died tragically young of tuberculosis, but his poems range from medieval stories to powerful meditations on art, love, song, sorrow and the natural world' ( Willow did not want to add at this point in the course her theory that all poets were frustrated sorcerers ).  
  
However, the book she was reading had fallen onto a page with a different poem on it, entitled "TO HOPE". She read it slowly, and as she did she could not hold back a solitary tear :-  
  
'When by my solitary hearth I sit,  
And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom;  
When no fair dreams before my "mind's eye" flit,  
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;  
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,  
And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head.'  
  
There were eight more verses like this, but she found the most poignant the last, as Keats talked about the moon. Yeah, that can really screw you up. She looked at the date it was written. February 1815. Hmm, Keats would have been about her age, perhaps a little older. Two people, the same age, with the same feelings, separated only by just under 200 years. Still, a very long time. She thought again,...' no its not! I wonder what Angel, or Spike, or Michael Douglas was doing just under 200 years ago!'  
  
She could feel how hot her cheek was, she guessed it was really blotchy. Oh damn. She was letting that BAD thought arise again. Must get back to the poem, must get back to the poem.  
She was gonna get back to this poem and ace the analysis if she had to sweat blood to do it! It was then that the thought and the voice hit her in one foul thwack,  
  
"I think you'd sweat cute blood", said the friendly face in a warm tone in a definitely non charred cantina back in a different world, what, about two years ago? This dream did flit before her "mind's eye" ( Hell! she could almost smell the mashed potato of the cantina! ) - but it was definitely 'no fair dream'. The English obviously wasn't fulfilling it's objective. She had just made up her mind to get up and try some magic instead when Buffy walked in.  
  
***********  
  
  
When Buffy returned to the dorm to fetch Willow she was sitting on her bed. Looking depressed as hell. She was underneath the covers with a broken shirt on and books strewn over her. The worst give away though, was that Buffy could tell she had been crying. She tried to lighten the mood.   
  
"I've seen lemmings near cliffs looking better than you - and this is after they've jumped off."  
  
"Thanks." Was all Willow could manage.  
  
Buffy knew this would happen. Damn! She thought. Why, oh why did it have to be a goddamn werewolf that jumps into our dorm and attacks us just the second she has gotten over Oz? Buffy didn't know what to say. Perhaps seeing Xander and Spike would cheer her up......Perhaps not.  
  
"Your not ready to come and see Giles?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, yeah. I was just failing to some work"  
  
"Huh, story of my life. But, Will, you're in bed, and," Buffy hesitated to proceed, "have you been crying?"  
  
"Crying? No, no, I mean, I wouldn't say that."  
  
"You're cheek's all red."  
  
" I mean, there hasn't been a waterfall, or anything, perhaps a slight sprinkle."  
  
Buffy slipped her bag off her shoulder and moved to the bed. She sat on the side of the bed next to Willow and took hold of her hand.  
  
"Why?", She asked, although she knew the answer already. Willow just looked down at her hands. She had already been there. Buffy had already put the best friend bit on reply way too many times, she didn't want to go there again. Not over the same subject matter.  
  
"Oz?" Buffy said lightly.  
  
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's stupid. You're thinking I'm stupid. And maybe I am. Maybe I shouldn't be getting upset. I, mean, I can move on. You did with Angel."  
  
Buffy looked away from Willow for a second. "Willow, I don't think you're stupid. And, with me and Angel..., well.., it never gets easy. And I don't expect it to be for you either. It's only natural for you to get upset when we get attacked by another werewolf. I mean, it's bound to bring back painful memories, especially now, it's a hard time for you."  
  
Willow was shaking her head. "No, Buffy, no, you're wrong."  
  
"About the memories? Or my theory that vampires invented mid-terms to spread evil, cos I'm prepared to budge on that one."  
  
"No, about it just being another werewolf. I think, I...,... I've been sitting here trying not to let myself think it, but, that werewolf, it was Oz."  
  
"What? But Will, Oz moved away from here just so stuff like this wouldn't happen, and he was a regular werewolf, the ones that come out when the moon's right."  
  
"It's not so far fetched, he needn't have gone so far, and when he's a werewolf he's bound to come back to college, it's where he lived, and there are so many people. Also, there could be any reason for him coming over furry that night, I mean, Ooh-Ooh-Ooh--It's a leap year!"  
  
"Okay Will. So it's possible. But it's unlikely, and I don't think it's good for you to get your hopes up," Willow closed her eyes, that word again, 'hope', "there could be hundreds of werewolves out there, it would be a rip off Hellmouth without 'em. Anyway, it was a big brown lump of furr, you don't know who it was."  
  
"I could just tell, Buffy, you know? He kept on running toward me when he broke in, even when you shouted at him, why would he do that if it were not an Oz way of telling me he misses me, or something. You know when you can just sense when someone's there?"  
  
Buffy hesitated. "Yeah." He voice faltered as she replied and remembered the agonizing moments when she could feel Angel close when he came back into town to protect her, but not let his presence be known. That was so Angel, working in the shadows. She could remember the pain of him being there just out of reach. She didn't want to think about it.  
  
"Why don't you stay here Will, get some sleep? I'll do the jackanory thing with Giles and the others, tell him what you think."  
  
Willow didn't argue, she felt drained.  
  
"Try not to think it was him. You shouldn't believe that."  
  
"But Buffy, I want to believe." These words seemed to echo in Buffy's ears.  
  
"Bye." Buffy said reluctantly, and left her alone.  
  
Exits dorm - into corridor  
  
Riley enters behind her.  
  
"Hey Buffy."  
  
"Hey, Riley, come to see me?"  
  
"Well, actually I was just passing..." he said, at an attempt to seem more cool.  
  
"In a girls dorm? Get lost?" which he realised didn't work.  
  
"Oh, okay, I did come to see you. How are things?"  
  
"Oh, you know. They're things."  
  
"That bad?"  
  
"Last night Will and I were attacked by a," she looked around her, this was not a secure area, "Janitor."  
  
"Janitor?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, one of those big hairy Janitors who only come out to clean up around a full moon."  
  
"Oh, one of those janitors. Man, they can really clean up."  
  
"Oh, yeah. I was gonna go inform Giles. Did you wanna come?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
They start walking along the corridor. You just see their backs. They are about to exit stage when Riley says,  
  
"Was it even a Janitor type of moon last night?" 


	3. I Want To Believe (3)

Giles House  
  
"Ooh, look at that guy." Xander says, pointing at a picture in a musty old book.  
  
"What is it?" asks Giles, not looking up.  
  
"I don't know, but he sure isn't a Martini drinker."  
  
"Hmph, I used to know him. Called Hufasta." Spike cuts in, "Yeah, back in Italy. He used to hang out with a load of empathy demons."  
  
"Well, I'm sure if you have any interesting or amusing stories about him, we'll be glad to listen." Xander says sarcastically.  
  
"He was a real BASTARD! I really liked him. Got on like a house on fire. That how we met actually, torching a quaint little village in the mountains. I might give him a bell actually."  
  
"Uh, I don't think so." Said Giles.  
  
"As I suspected, when we dip back into Spike's past we find a whole range of, urm, 2 unsavoury characters he used to be buds with." Xander started.  
  
"I'm so sorry that I can't compete with X-man Harris, king of the world, and people magnet."  
  
"Look, I think you two should stop now, before someone gets hurt." Giles suggested.  
  
"Oh, he can't hurt me Giles, he's got that chip in him, remember."  
  
"Xander I wasn't talking about him." Giles shoots them both a threatening glance to which they both pale. Xander looks worried, then there is a knock on the door. His relief is obvious.  
  
"Oh, ha, ha, look, it's the door....t..t..the door ....with Buffy..Buf..It's Buffy at the door." He rambles gleefully, pointing.  
  
Giles goes to open it.  
  
"Hi guys, I brought Riley, I hope that's okay." Spike then turns his face slightly and becomes tense. He is trying to avoid recognition.  
  
It does not work.   
  
Riley sees him.  
  
"Hey, are you sure I don't know you from anywhere?" He asks, trying to get a good look at him.  
  
"No, sir. I don't think so."  
  
Xander decides to take the opportunity to step in and annoy Spike. "Oh come on Spike, I think you can tell him now, don't you?"  
  
Spike forces a laugh. "Tell him what, Xander, old pal, old buddie?"  
  
Xander continues, with a smile spreading across his face, "Oh, you know, about who you are, where he knows you from."  
  
Buffy starts to look concerned. As much as she hates to admit it, they had gained a lot of ground with Spike and she had even started to think of him as one of the team. She would hate to lose him now just because Xander had his ego bruised, she may even miss him. "Xander?.." She starts.  
  
"Oh, come on Buff, he should know, don't you think Spike?........"  
  
......"About you being on television."  
  
"Television?" Buffy starts, "oh....uh... yeah, Spike's a star. you must recognise him."  
  
Spike looked puzzled. Buffy turned and nodded her eyes violently at him. He just about manages to stifle a shrug.  
  
"Spike here is a famous T.V. chef, isn't that right Spike?"  
  
"Xander, now,..." Spike starts, but he stops when he realises he is not sure which accent to attempt.  
  
"Daytime T.V. has never been better than Spike's specialised Offal cookery show. I am always stunned how clean and neat he is - I just couldn't do that!" Xander goes up and pats Spike on the back, hard.  
  
"Oh Xander," Spike starts determined to get back at him, "my fortune and celebrity status just cannot compare to your sharp wit and snappy sarcasm!", He pats Xander on the back in return, this time just a little harder.  
  
Well, Xander wasn't having that. "But Spike, you're a star. There are middle aged women who weigh 500 pounds to whom you are their only friend. You're a lifeline for them." He hits him on the back really quite hard this time.  
  
"Xander I cannot compete with your charm and rugged good looks. Let's face it Xander, your just too cool - you should have been the T.V. chef." Thwack.  
  
"I couldn't reach out to people with love and care and affection like you can. We're talking about poor, jobless, lifeless, friendless, slobs. I couldn't hack it." Thwack.  
  
"Oh, I don't see why not, I'm sure you could relate to them more." Thwack.  
  
"Come on you guys," Buffy steps in and grabs them both by the hands, she digs in her nails, they're faces betray how much pain they are in, "You could both relate to them really well." The trick works. They both sit down in silence after she releases them.  
  
"Now why couldn't I have done that?" Giles mutters to himself. "No Willow?"  
  
"No. Bad news I'm afraid. She thinks it was Oz, because it seemed to head toward her. I told her it probably wasn't, but we decided it was a wallow willow time, not a .........., hey, what else rhymes with Willow?  
  
"Pillow?" Spike suggested.  
  
"No. I mean something to do with looking up creatures in old books and then helping me to go and beat them up."  
  
"Oh! Well that's obvious now!" Spike retorted.  
  
"So, Giles. Have we found anything yet about our furry friend?"  
  
"Well, so far it looks as though either it's slept in since last full moon, or it's some sort of spell."  
  
"Hmm. Could you perhaps make that a little more vague for me?" Buffy pondered sarcastically.  
  
"It could be any number of spells, Buffy, one to make a person into a werewolf, or to make a werewolf permanently a werewolf, or perhaps make a werewolf out of nothing. Maybe it was not a person, but a pet or something."  
  
"And someone did this, why? Because they're aren't any really good zoos near Sunnydale?"  
  
"I suppose just to add to the general havoc in Sunnydale. Unless..... Did you say Willow thought it headed straight for her?"  
  
"Yeah, even when I said it would leave little hairs all over the place. Why?"  
  
"Perhaps,.......Do you know if Willow has any enemies?"  
  
"Well, I think she stepped on an ant once, but otherwise."  
  
"Is that a no?" Giles asked to be sure.  
  
Buffy widened her eyes and started nodding slowly. "Yes. I mean no. I mean yes that was a no. Duh! Why do I bother making good with the joke thing around you people? Anyway, someone wants to hurt Willow? I don't buy it. What do you think Riley?"  
  
"I don't know. But The Initiative hasn't heard about any out-of-season fuzzies. I think we should consider it as a possibility. Better to be safe than sorry."  
  
"I guess so." Buffy agreed   
  
"Mmm, it all makes sense when someone other than me says it" Giles mutters.  
  
"Buffy, if it was a spell that caused this attack then the person who may want to hurt Willow could still be out there, and be a threat in the daytime. Where is she now?" Riley asked methodically.  
  
"Back at the dorm, alone. Oh my God. Willow." Buffy headed for the door.  
  
***********  
Sunnydale college ext. Establishing  
  
Int. Buffy + Willow's dorm.  
  
Willow isn't much changed from the position she was in last time. This time with a magic book. Not an English book. It was called "Caediloche". It was Celtic. She liked it, it had the symbol of a cat on it, with the cat sitting with its back facing you, and it's tail falling down behind it.  
  
There was a knock on the door.  
  
She was about to say "come in" when she remembered the last time she did that. Spike had tried to kill her. She thought it best to ask who was there first.  
  
"Mr. Heely"  
  
Her English teacher? Oh My god! She'd skipped class again! Damn! That had happened quite a bit since Oz left.  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
She opened the door. She couldn't argue with authority.  
  
"Mr. Heely sir, I, um, I'm sorry I cut class again when I said I wasn't going to,.....I, well, I was just doing some work actually." She hid the magic book.  
  
"Willow." Mr. Heely started slowly once he had moved into the room, "I don't know what you've heard about me around campus, but I don't tend to operate quite like the rest of the faculty." He had a strange voice for a teacher, Willow thought. A slow, warm voice, completely the opposite from her psych teacher ( known by some as the Bitch Queen of Death ).  
  
Willow felt she should reply to him in some way. However, all she could manage was a "Hmph. Um."  
  
"You see, Willow. Other teachers at Sunnydale would react differently to a pupil cutting class." Willow was not entirely sure she liked where this was going. At this point Mr. Heely took off his brown, soft hat. this revealed his head of curly red hair, which sprouted over his ears and face making him look quite comical. "Of course, you're not kids anymore. You have to set your own rules, we can't set detentions. But, when a pupil as promising and as bright as you cuts classes, something has to be done."  
  
Threatening Music rises in the background. Focus in on Heely's eyes - they go dark  
  
"Wh..What?" Willow stifles.  
  
"I'm just saying, that............."Music reaches a climax then stops, he smiles, "something must be wrong. I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about it?"  
  
"With you?......I mean,.....With you?"  
  
"Not necessarily. You could visit our excellent student services department." He hands Willow a card. "I just thought it was much better for you to sort out the problem and then catch up with your studies." He smiles. "Come back when you're ready."  
  
Willow smiled. She thought she liked the guy with the funny red hair. "Er, thanks, sir. Um, I'll see you soon." Willow felt an enormous weight lift from her shoulders and was glad that there was at least one teacher there who she liked.  
  
At that moment Xander, Buffy and Riley burst in the room, Riley wielding a stun gun, Buffy a crossbow, and Xander a really big fire extinguisher he found in the hallway he was waving about in the air (it was the best thing he could find).  
  
"Get away from her evil! I've got foam, and I'm not afraid to use it." He turns to Buffy and mutters, "Evil hates foam, right?". Buffy nods then gives him and encouraging pat on the back. "So come on, move away from her you big, hairy,....  
  
"Xander?!" Exclaimed Willow in shock as he continued to abuse Mr. Heely. "What are you doing?"  
  
Xander turned around behind him to see that both Buffy and Riley had put away their weapons and were smiling innocently at Mr. Heely.  
  
"Hello, sir." They both seemed to say in unison.  
  
A sudden horrible realisation crept over Xander. "As I was saying, get away from her evil," he now turned slightly and pointed the extinguisher at Amy, the Rat. "Get away, go on." He fires a little shot of foam at poor, unsuspecting Amy, who scuttles under a bit of plastic in her cage. "The rat," Xander started, shakily, " the rat's called evil. It's big and hairy. Harris. Pest control. See ya." Xander runs out of the room.  
  
"He really hates those rats. Wants us all to be prepared for battle before we enter the room." Buffy said by way of explanation.  
  
"Oh, well, I was just leaving, anyway." Mr. Harris seemed a bit flustered from the second he saw Buffy enter the room wielding a crossbow so naturally. He left the room, making especially sure that he backed away from Buffy at all times, and looked really uncomfortable as he had to cross her to get through the door.  
  
"What's going on? Are you in trouble?" Asked Buffy. Willow was just about to ask the same thing as there was a loud crash. It sounded like it came from the other end of the corridor. The three of them froze. There was then a scream, they all sprang into action and followed the sound down the hall.  
  
Down corridor in front of room 333, the door is black and charred  
  
"Oh no! Jesse!" Exclaimed Willow.  
  
"Stay here." Buffy indicated as she kicked down Jesse's door easily. The whole room looked rather black and charred. All except Jesse's dream orb. Buffy couldn't believe it. She picked it up, ouch, it gave her an electric shock, Sheesh. She suddenly realised that Jesse was in the corner of the room. He was curled up and shaking, but looking remarkably happy.  
  
"Jesse?"   
  
"They were here," Jesse started to laugh insanely, "Ha, they were here - I wasn't sure last time, but they were definitely here now!! HAHA!!"  
  
"Do you really think so?" She couldn't argue - it looked like it.  
  
Jesse started to shout up at the sky, "Come on, take me, take me you bastards, I want to come. I want to believe."  
  
Suddenly, Buffy got caught up in her own thoughts. It was as if something, some higher power was trying to tell her.....something. She just couldn't do any better than that. Once again her eyes swayed toward the point on the wall where the poster had been. Engrave on the wall, like someone had carved it in, was a symbol. Funny, she didn't notice that before. Just then the lines seemed to come together to assume a familiar shape.   
  
Oh no. Oh , please no. Not that.  
  
But it was, it was a heart and a crown, the symbol on the ring Angel had given her two years ago. It was Angel's symbol. She ran over to Jesse.  
  
"Jesse! Jesse! What happened, what really, actually happened to you, not what you want to think happened to you but what you can actually remember. There is something seriously sucky going on here and it is very important I firm up the facts!"  
  
"There was a bright light."  
  
"And?"  
  
"I was hit, over the back of the head, I screamed. You came."  
  
***********  
  
Giles' Place Ext. Establishing.  
  
Giles' Int.  
  
Giles has just listened to what Buffy, Willow and Riley have to tell. Xander was keeping quiet at the back of the room.  
  
Spike enters the room. Spike is very excited at the heroes'' return. He is pacing the floor, occasionally jumping and bashing his fist against the palm of his other hand. "Well, did you beat anything up? Did you kill something? Did you rip out its still beating heart and show it to them before they died?"  
  
"Eeiow." Said Buffy disgusted. "No, but that's my nightmare for tonight sorted out."  
  
"We had foam." Added Xander.  
  
"I'm impressed. This from the guys who have repeatedly stopped Armageddon. I'm telling you, now I'm outta the game naughtiness is really in danger of taking a nosedive down the crapper."  
  
"....And tomorrows nightmare." Buffy says to herself.  
  
Giles returns to the subject. "So, we think that it was a spell which caused the werewolf last night and the alien-like attack today."  
  
"Totally. That stuff Jesse was talking about was way doable with magic - without extra assistance from extra terrestrials" Buffy added.  
  
"Quite. So now we just have to figure out the sorcerer who is behind it all."  
  
"Or Wicca." Willow added.  
  
"Quite. Quite...."  
  
"Three 'quite's in as many minutes - we're bordering on world record here." Buffy pointed out.  
  
"Oh yes, do lets make fun of the way I'm speaking while we could all quite possibly be in mortal danger."  
  
"Four" observed Buffy quietly.  
  
"Now," Giles continued, "Who are our suspects. There's that witch group Willow knows, or magic demons wanting to terrorise people, or...."  
  
"Perhaps it was the Ginger Fonz." Xander exclaimed referring to Mr. Heely. "One look at me and my Anti-evil foam and he was running for cover."  
  
"I'm afraid there's a new suspect." Buffy summoned up all her courage. "Angel. I saw his symbol engraved on the wall. It fits, he would want to spread the bad vibe in Sunnydale, and he has knowledge of the black arts."  
  
"Do you believe so?" Giles asked. Buffy was going to say ' I want to...' but stopped herself. She didn't really want him to be bad, even if it meant he was in town.  
  
"Oh no, you think he's, you know, bad?" Asked Willow, gently, yet with curiosity.  
  
"Angelus? Oh, good for him." Spike said in a happy tone. He dulled it down. "Although, obviously not from your point of view."  
  
Riley piped up. "Who's Angel?"  
  
Buffy hesitated. "Oh, a vampire. He's good. Or not. It's a long story."  
  
"CORDELIA!" Xander suddenly shouted.  
  
"Urm, she's not here, Xander." Buffy said in the best 'Duh!' tone she could manage.   
  
"I have her number somewhere. She works with Angel in L.A. right? Let's ask her if Angel's soul's shown signs of going A.W.O.L. lately."  
  
"Yeah, good Xander. Meanwhile, I should be in town tonight, just in case any bright lights or fuzzies hurt any populated areas. Will, I want you to stay here, out of college tonight." She picks up her coat. It is getting dark outside.  
  
"I'll come with you." Riley says and moves to follow her.  
  
"No. I need you to guard the college, the previous two strikes have been there. I'll be fine. Anyway, I have a feeling he'll be there. Angel. I think I should be alone to confront him."  
  
Riley hesitates. Then nods. Buffy leaves.   



	4. I Want To Believe (4)

Bronze ext. Buffy is in an alley. Waiting.  
  
Buffy looks at her watch. In the bronze they are playing "The Devil You Don't Know" by Face to Face. She just manages to catch the line :  
  
'The devil you don't know is still outside.......'  
  
when someone opened the door to go inside the Bronze. The rest of the lyrics were inaudible, it was drowned out by the throbbing baseline which was being reflected off a huge pile of boxes next to her. Damn, she thought. She didn't know why she came, she just felt that it would be the place Angel would show for a confrontation after all this time, where they first met. In an alley outside the bronze. She as certain now that he would come, it was like Willow was saying earlier, about feeling someone's presence.  
  
The song ended. A new one came on. A slow one this time, which she could actually hear the lyrics of, she recognised it as 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits.  
  
'A lovestruck Romeo....'  
  
Just then, she saw the back of a tall, dark figure in a black coat at the end of the alley. Angel. She froze. Did he know she was there? Was he bad? What did he want? Was she gonna have to kill him? Again? ( She knew that had to be a bad track record for any relationship ). She so didn't want to have to, she moved forward, seemingly to the haunting words of the song,  
  
' Juliet says, hey it's Romeo, he nearly gave me a heart attack....'  
  
As soon as she got about a small run and kick's distance away from him, she decided to address him. But before she could say 'Angel',...  
  
"Buffy." Buffy was so shocked to hear Angel's voice she almost fell backwards.  
  
'Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start.....'  
  
"Angel? Is that you?"  
  
'And you exploded in my heart........'  
  
"Afraid not, schoolgirl."  
  
"Angelus! Hey, I'm at college now! What do you want in my town?" She was beyond trying to get Angel out from Angelus, she had tried that before. She wanted this to be as quick and as painless as possible.  
  
'But I forget, I forget, the movie song. When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong,...Juliet....."  
  
"Well, I was just passing, and I couldn't not stop by and say hello to the slayer, could I? How are things? Not good I hope."  
  
"Oh, everything was just peachy......until you came along."  
  
"Oh, I am glad to hear that."   
  
Buffy had not moved forward. The plan was as follows: If the worst was true, don't let him speak, run forward, slay, repress. She could not even complete the first, easiest task. New tactic.  
  
"What are you trying to do? Magic was never you're style!" Buffy said gathering all her strength.  
  
'And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be. I can't do anything, but I'll do anything for you, I can't do anything except be in love with you........'  
  
"No, but I'm good at breaking people. I don't start with you. I slowly taunt you, let you wonder what's going on, fear what may be happening, then, one by one,"  
  
"You go after my friends and the people close to me, before making your presence known and attacking me yourself." She cut in not allowing him to finish. She could only just make out his face as he was standing in the shadows. Angel did not wait around for any more small talk. He turned around and with a fierce hiss his face changed to that of a vampire and he lunged at Buffy.  
  
Her defences crumbled, for some reason, the thought of getting out her stake never even crossed her mind.  
  
"Angel?" She trembled, pleadingly.  
  
'And all I do is miss you.....'  
  
He pushed her back into the wall behind and grabbed her throat. He stared deep into her eyes as she gasped for breath, tightening her hands around his wrist. She could feel herself losing consciousness, and the song slowly drowning out.  
  
'I said I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die, and there's a place for us.......'  
  
  
***********  
  
  
  
Buffy's eyelids felt heavy, she felt them droop. She could no longer hope to fight with so little strength and should couldn't even plead with Angel for her life.  
  
She heard a sudden crash.  
  
And she was released, she took a step back and choked in some hot air which stuck in her throat. She fell to the floor. What had happened? He hadn't killed her. She became more aware of crashing around her and suddenly, her eyes came into focus.  
  
Angel was fighting.   
  
Fighting Riley.  
  
Where the hell had he come from? What was she going to do? She tried to stand up but just lost her footing and stumbled back down. She clutched at her neck, coughing and spluttering.  
  
Angel was obviously marginally stronger than Riley, but Riley had one of his electrifying stun guns that Buffy had seen when fighting The Gentlemen, after they had taken all the townspeople's voices. She longed to be able to scream again. To cry out and stop this. She knew Angelus needed to be killed, but what about Angel? What about Angel? She wanted to tell Riley to back off.  
  
Then a sudden fear hit her. What if Angel hurts, or kills Riley? Oh, no, I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen.  
  
But what about Angel? But what about Angel? But what about Angel? Was the constant banging of a voice in her head. To Riley, he's just another vampire.  
  
Riley had at first used the gun to hit Angel over the head. Angel had responded to this by knocking it out of Riley's hands, however, it was obvious the blow had shaken him. Riley took the opportunity to throw a few well aimed hits Angel's way, which shook him even more. However, Angel now proceeded to fight his way back. He hit Riley once, again, and again, finally knocking him back so he fell against the floor.  
  
Buffy looked on at the fight aghast and breathless.  
  
Angel was unlucky though. Riley had fallen near his gun, and in one swift move, reached for it and fired at Angel, who fell back paralysed against some boxes.  
  
But what about Angel? But what about Angel? What about Angel?  
  
Buffy took in a deep breath and moved forward, but before she could shout 'NO!', Riley had pulled out a stake from his inside his camouflage jacket and buried it deep in Angel's heart. Buffy watched on with her mouth open as she saw him turn into dust and fall apart right before her eyes.  
  
Riley turned around and ran towards her. "Are you OK?" He asked.  
  
  
***********  
  
"Well, this is just BLOODY fantastic!" Spike said throwing his arms up into the air then falling down into a chair in the corner of Xander's basement. He was fully prepared to sulk for his remaining time there. He had had to return because Willow was staying at Gile's place, so she would take his bed and Giles would take the sofa and Spike would take the bathtub. When he complained, they burdened him on Xander.  
  
Xander turned to look at him. He lifted his hand to his heart and pulled a hurt expression, "Oh Spike, you cut me, I was really looking forward to our quality time together."  
  
"Idiot." Was the response.  
  
"Okay, now that's it! I'm tired of all your crap, Spike! You know that if it was up to me I would reduce you to talcum powder in an instant, but for some reason the others aren't quite as pissed off with you - probably because they haven't had to live with you for as long - but also because you just are not worth it. Fact is, Spike, I've shared more enjoyable, quality time with my toilet brush than you - and you've seen where I live. Face it Spike, you are pathetic, excuse for an existence, you're not even worth the wood the stakes carved out of." Xander walks out of the room.  
  
For a moment, Spike is silent with an expression on his face bordering on sadness and confusion. Sad music rises, and there is a close-up on Spike, as if Xander's words actually got through to him, and he was in deep thought.  
Then the music stops abruptly and the camera zooms out Spike laughs.  
  
"Idiot."  
  
But then he looks worried again.  
  
***********  
  
  
What just happened? Buffy could not believe it, she could not let herself believe it.  
  
"Buffy, are you OK?" Riley repeated.  
  
Where to start, she thought. "My throat.....it hurts to speak." It did, she thought, in more ways than one.  
  
"Come on, let's get you home." Riley took Buffy by the arm to lead her home, but she quickly pulled away."Where did you come from? I told you to stay on campus!" She croaked.  
  
"Buffy, it's okay. Campus is safe, nothing was happening and I've got a few good men out there guarding it so I came to help in the populated areas."  
  
"I can look after myself!!"   
  
"It didn't look like a 'Leave Buffy to it' time, it looked like a 'Quick help Buffy or she'll be strangled' time."  
  
"You shouldn't have come."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry Buffy, but from where I'm standing I'm glad I came."  
  
"It had nothing to do with you!"  
  
"It's my job, Buffy."  
  
"But Angel was my............kill."   
  
"He would have killed you!"  
  
She was silent. You don't know that, she wanted to say.  
  
"Look, it's not that I expect gratitude or anything, but I'm always going to try to protect you, and I'm not going to stop just because you tell me to. I think you should start to get used to that."  
  
Riley being nice just made it worse.  
  
"I don't want to shout. Can we please go now?" She was bordering on tears.  
  
"Sure." He replied. That was such a Riley word, 'sure', he was so sure about everything. Everything was black and white, right and wrong. He was so different from her.  
  
  
***********  
  
  
Willow unzipped the overnight bag she had made up to stay at Giles' and carefully refolded her red pyjamas. It was nice at Giles', but somehow it was good to be home. Home, she was glad she finally thought of her dorm as that, it helped that it was Buffy she shared it with (and Amy, of course), and all the familiar stuff she was surrounded with : Her magic books, her work books, her CD's, her potions (which she could not necessarily have been open about with any other room mate), her photos, her Dingo's poster..... Oh, yeah, that. She felt a bit strange still having that, what with Oz gone. She slowly started to peel the top of the poster.  
  
But why should I, she thought. It's a part of me and of my life at one time. She slapped the top of the poster back onto position. She felt good. Positive.  
  
Which was more than could be said for Buffy. Poor Buffy. She had refused Willow's offer of breakfast this morning for a bit of quality sad time.   
  
Willow did not know what to do. She was worried that she would not be as good a best friend to Buffy as she was to her. Buffy had come in to Giles' late last night, distraught. She cried and cried, and hugged Willow and cried and cried, and hugged Giles and cried , and cried. She then fessed up about Angel. Then she fell asleep, exhausted.   
  
She was still there now. Willow had left to tidy up and make things nice for her to come back to, but also to let her have some time alone with Giles, with her mother way, he was the next best thing when it came to comfort parentwise. She chuckled at the thought of Giles being motherly.  
  
She then jumped as there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Well remembered, Willow, she congratulated herself.  
  
"You're favourite English teacher."  
  
Mr. Heely. God, what did he want?.....Again? She opened the door.  
  
"Mr. Heely?"  
  
"Willow. I hope you don't mind me calling round again."  
  
"No.." Was all Willow stumbled. She thought he had an unusually large smile which was very curvy. She decided she liked him, but didn't really feel like talking to him right now. Not with everything that's going on.  
  
"The reason I called round..... Willow it's not easy to say this but...." He paused. " You remember I was talking to you yesterday about there was something obviously troubling you and your work and you should sort it out."  
  
"Umm" Willow replied nodding.  
  
"Well, I was very distressed by the scene I witnessed yesterday in this room. Specifically with the girl with the crossbow. Buffy, I think, your roommate."  
  
Oh, Boy. Where could this be going? She wondered.  
  
"I spoke to Jesse Barrows this morning."  
  
"You know Jesse?"  
  
"Yes, he is part of my student program, you know, that talk your problems through thing that I believe in. He was very upset about a recent experience he had which troubled him greatly. He was attacked in his room, albeit he believes it was by aliens, but Buffy Summers apparently kicked down his door and came in and harassed him, questioning him about the experience. This behaviour is that last thing you need to be subjected to Willow,"  
  
"Oh, Mr. Heely, you've got it all wrong, honestly,..."  
  
"I can't order you to do something, and I can't choose your friends for you. But I think I speak from experience when I say Buffy Summers is a bad influence. If I were you I would not associate myself with such a person. I've checked her school records, expulsions, a history of violence. if you'll take my advice you'll straight away go about keeping your distance and changing dorms."  
  
"But, Mr. Heely..."  
  
"I'm only trying to help you Willow. I'll leave you alone now, to have a little think. Bye."  
  
He exited swiftly. Wow, that was just typical. Someone trying to upset her fun, just as she found it. Leave Buffy? There was just no way! She then got a phone call to go over to Giles' house.  
  
  
***********  
Int. Giles' house  
  
Xander is on the phone. "Uh huh. Yep. Yep. Yep. NO? Yep? Oh, okay, yeah." The loud ramblings of Cordelia Chase can be just heard on the other line.  
"Really?.....Man, that must have been wild!",  
  
Buffy comes down the stairs, she's just woken up. 'Cordelia?' she mouths. Xander nods. 'What?' she mouths. Xander covers the phone with one hand.  
  
"I've only been on the line an hour, so we're still talking about her new apartment, the new gym she goes to and the new way she wears her hair. Did you know Cordelia woke up eight and a half weeks pregnant with demon babies?"  
  
Buffy shook her head. "Man, that must have been wild."  
  
"That's what I said. Gimme a minute, I'll steer it onto Angel."  
  
"Don't worry. I know it all. He was bad, he was slain."  
  
"No way Buffy, that can't be right."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Xander hesitates. "Angel answered the phone." He stammers a chuckle.  
  
Buffy goes numb. She reaches out for the phone.  
  
"Cordelia?"  
  
"Buffy? Hi, I could tell you about my new apartment, or I could put you onto Angel. Lemme guess which you'd prefer." Her voice is kind, and familiar. Buffy can no longer sense any 'Shallow High School Bitch' in her voice. She could tell Cordelia must have really grown since she moved to L.A. She wanted to talk to her and find out exactly how, and she promised herself she would. But not now.  
  
"Angel, please."  
  
"Are you sure? I've got a friendly ghost who does my washing up. Not tempted?.... I'll put him on."  
  
The line when quiet for what seemed like an eternity, before,  
  
"Buffy?"  
  
"Angel? Angel is that really you? Are you Ok? Are you good?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm good. On all the levels. Are you..?"  
  
"Good? Yeah." Although her shaky voice betrayed that she was crying. she could tell the instant he said he name that it was Angel, not Angelus. Buffy took a few deep breaths.   
  
"I just needed to know that you were Ok. There's been some pretty spooky stuff going on here and....well, I just needed to know."  
  
"Buffy it's okay for you to call me."  
  
"No, it isn't. It's not fair. It's too painful as it is, I'm so sorry.."   
  
"Buff..."  
  
Buffy hung up the phone. She couldn't bear the thought of speaking to him without seeing him at the moment. But maybe she would ask Xander for his number, 'Angel Investigations'. Perhaps, in time, she could bear a phone call now and then, tell him about stuff she's been doing and things that have happened. For the first time since last night, she felt she could breathe easily again.  
  
***********  
  
"Ah, Willow, do come in." Giles says opening the door to Willow. He offered her a chair.  
  
"Hello people." She smiled at everyone. "Oh, and Spike." Spike raised his hand in the corner. It was not exactly a wave, more of an acknowledgement that he was listening.  
  
Buffy strided in with an air of urgency about her. She was in AuthorityBuffy mode.  
  
"Okay, so, that facts have changed. Yes, we think it's still hocus pocus,.."  
  
"Really?" Asked Willow, excited.  
  
"Oh please, yeah, the whole Abracadabra deal, but we can forget all the werewolves and aliens and vampires. Angel's fine. He's in L.A. Whatever Riley killed last night was not him."  
  
"Well, good, I guess.." Willow tried.  
  
"Giles and I think,.."  
  
"Hey, I was here too!" Insisted Xander. "I added."  
  
"And me." Spike added from the back.  
  
"Right. We all think that a spell was used to conjure up these things. They were never real."  
  
"Oh, well, good, I guess..." Willow tried again.  
  
"Which means that someone out there has tried to do this spell for some reason. Werewolf, Aliens, Angel. Why? What's the connection?" They all stare blankly at each other. Suggestions start to arise.  
  
"They all damage humans..." Came from Giles  
  
"Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, they all come out at night!!!" Willow tried.  
  
"None of them floss?" Was Xander's solution.  
  
"Perhaps they have all been the subject of some sort of ritual, or curse?" Buffy pondered.  
  
"They're all naughtier than Spike! Oh no, wait, that's everyone!"  
  
"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!" Spike released, standing up from his chair. "It's quite obviously a hurt spell, influenced by what people want. You," He pointed at Willow, who jumped back as if he had hit her, "You were visited by Dog boy, what you wanted (Why he came out when the moon was empty), but it was twisted because it attacked you! Mulder up there," He points vaguely in the direction of the college, "would have wanted to see aliens, but it was twisted, 'cos they attacked him! And you....." He pointed at Buffy, "....can you see a pattern emerging here?!" This said, Spike flung himself back in his chair.  
  
"So what you're saying is, the spell was cast on me, and I wanted to see Angel, but when a second Angel was materialised, he just attacked me, 'cos it was a hate spell, like 'rip out your heart sesame'?"  
  
"You tell me, do I have the expression 'Duh!' written all over my face." Spike tried to pull that face.  
  
"I couldn't honestly say." Buffy said slowly. Spike responded by trying to pull an even more 'Duh' face. This is responded to by Willow being heard chuckling in the background. When she realises everyone has turned around she stops abruptly and attempts looking serious.  
  
"What? What? What? What's going on?" Asks Xander, lost.  
  
"Yes, I didn't quite understand the bit with the facial expressions." Giles agrees.  
  
"Oh my god, Giles, plug in! If it sounds like someone's trying to be witty, just take it that they're agreeing." Buffy threw at him. Now both she and Spike were starting to look suitably infuriated.  
  
"Yes, but I seem to remember the last time we had this conversation, you were disagreeing with me." Giles returns.  
  
Buffy does not look phased. "Whatever." She answers. She decides to move on. "So, the connection was what we wanted. But why were we the targets? I mean what do we all have in common magicwise?"  
  
"Well, you do all have that thing." Xander says whilst flicking through a book he has picked up.   
  
Buffy and Willow look at him surprised. "No. What thing?" Buffy ventures.  
  
Xander looks up. "You know, that thing."  
  
"Oh, yeah. The thing." Spike says from the background, seemingly like he had just caught on.  
  
"My word, you're right." Giles agrees.  
  
"Okay guys, now you're starting to scare me, and I've seen a fear demon without being scared......much. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"  
  
Xander closes the book. "Jeez, Buff. Only that you all have that crusade. You and Will fight evil and from what you've said about Jesse..."  
  
"He wants to save the world from alien conspiracies and prove the existence of governments Blah Blah Blah....." Buffy realised. At the back Willow stood up, horrified.  
  
"Well, I was gonna say, save the world from ever running out of X-File websites, but that too." Xander insisted.  
  
"Buffy," Willow said, "I think I've gotten to the bottom of this.....well, not the bottom actually, but this definitely isn't shallow end type of stuff." She paused  
  
"Come on Will, we're all dying to hear." Buffy tried to push her along.  
  
"Buffy, that magic Amber gave me, to give to Jesse, I,..I...touched it, the ball, and he must have too, and I remember at he time..."  
  
"Oh God, I touched it too, just before I saw the sign and thought of Angel, actually."  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner." Xander shouts.  
  
"What was it called again? A sleep..?" Asked Buffy.  
  
"No, a Dream Orb." Willow remembered.  
  
"Dream Orb," Giles looks up as if he remembers something. He peers along his book shelf and then rummages around in an old-looking brown book he pulls out of a bookcase full of old-looking brown books. "Here." He points at a picture of a glass sphere. "This is it, now, it says that they are made to either keep you safe while you sleep, or to embody what you greatly want and desire. However, they are not widely accepted in magic circles because they are very easy to corrupt, and make your dreams turn out as nightmares."  
  
"That's our ball!" Buffy said pleased. A job well done.  
  
"There's one thing I don't understand," Willow raised her voice, "If the spell made duplicate Angel, Aliens and Oz Werewolf, yeah Angel 2's slayed I know, but what about the duplicate Aliens, and Oz? are they still around?"  
  
"I don't think so Willow," Giles tried to say soothingly, "It says here that materialisations rarely last longer than an hour before they are, dematerialised."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Buffy picks up her bag of weapons. "So, don't you think that it's time we went to pay Amber, our little hocus shmokus pal, a visit?"  
  
  
***********  
  
"This is it." Willow pointed out, "but, could we do the thing that's, well, anything other than kicking the door down, I really don't think this can be her fault Buffy."  
  
"So whose fault is it, Will? She did the magic, who can she blame it on from there? The manufacturers of the glass ball? Perhaps she didn't keep it below room temperature and it invalidated it's 'being good' guarantee."   
  
Willow pulled an exasperated face. Buffy sighed and knocked on the door.  
  
Shuffles are heard inside, like someone walking up to the door. "Who is it?" Came a voice from inside.  
  
"It's the .............." Buffy said, growing tired of time spent waiting, without confrontation.  
  
"Amber, it's Willow, and Buffy. We need to talk to you. Can we come in?" There was a pause. "Please." Willow added.  
  
The door opened. Willow thought Amber looked scared.  
  
"It's okay, Amber. We just wanna talk to you." Willow assured her when Amber saw Buffy's big black bag - she guessed correctly it contained all her weapons.  
  
"Yeah, like I always just wanna talk. The violence is just a bonus." Buffy muttered.  
  
"Amber, you remember that dream orb you made for Jesse?" Amber closed her eyes. "What, well, what was that? What did you mean it to do? Exactly?"  
  
Amber sat down on her bed and shook her head. "I knew this would happen. It's something bad, isn't it? It's done something bad? I know it has. Something's gone wrong." At this point she is almost in tears. " It's been making people's dreams come true, but wrong , or something hasn't it? I know, because, this morning....I thought I got a note from my mother. She died last year." Buffy put her weapons down and came at sat next to her. Willow sat the other side.  
  
"I'm so sorry." Willow comforted.  
  
Buffy's voice softened. "Tell us what happened."  
  
"I did the spell, but the good spell - the protecting spell. I swear I only did that! But, I left it in the recreation rooms, the one we use for Wicca group, so I could pick it up in the morning, 'cos I knew I was going there, and I thought the vibes could interfere with the harmony spells I have in my room causing light and dark to act on an equilibrium." Buffy looked at her.  
  
"You mean like Feng Shui? 'Cos I could handle that."  
  
"No. But, when I got back to the orb in the morning, I touched it and it gave off a power surge. It's not supposed to do that. I realised anyone could'a done anything to it. I got really scared - I know I should have done something more, but I didn't know what..... But I knew you would, so I asked you to take it to Jesse, and made up some excuse about Wicca group. I'm so sorry, but I didn't know anything for sure, and I didn't know what I was dealing with if I ,....had know anything, for sure."  
  
"Oh dammit!" Buffy said, standing up. She examined Amber, who just looked too believable. "This means we STILL have to find out who did the spell!! We've just widened it up to about 1000 people who go to Sunnydale College!" Buffy sat down on the bed again. "Not that I ever doubted you were innocent." Buffy said, forcing a smile.  



	5. I Want To Believe (5)

Int. Giles' Place, Giles on phone + Willow in college on phone  
  
"Ah. Well, I must admit, I half suspected that was the case. I think you would have known   
something if your friend had wanted to push the people in Sunnydale to breaking point." Giles spoke down the phone to Willow, who updated him on the latest.  
  
"Yeah, would have been a clue, like in the cackle or, hints of world domination dropped into the odd conversation, or something."  
  
"So, what is your suggested next plan of action supposed to be?"  
  
"Well, Buffy and I thought we could research the ritual on how to make the bad spell and find out a way of reversing it."  
  
"Good plan of action. Although, I'm afraid I've already looked. My books all seem to be dry concerning such power."  
  
"Oh, it's okay. I've been thinking, my English class have loads of old books on stuff, even magic stuff like this - lots of old Celtic and poetry. Would it be ok if that were used as base? Just for tonight? I was kinda hoping you could help Amber research while Buffy and I went to Jesse's and tried to get back the orb, we don't want it being passed around. The wrong person touches that and we could have like an entire football trying to cause well, possibly pain, in the college."  
  
"Quite right." A mumble is heard on the other side of the phone.  
  
"What is up with this place, eh? It's all dull, oldy woldy and a bit of a dump." Spike said upon entering the room.  
  
"Spike, I'm fighting evil, or trying to," he said indicating to the phone, "what that means is that I cannot spend my time thinking about D.I.Y."  
  
Spike looks around the room. "Yeah, stick to what you're good at, I s'pose."  
  
Willow speaks to Giles again down the phone. "Buffy says Hi.......And to get to work."  
  
"Right, I'll come right over, and I'll gat Xander too, tell him to come over and help you retrieve the orb." Giles puts down the phone and puts his coat on ready to leave.  
  
"Uh, where are you going?" Asks Spike, getting up as Giles walks towards the door.  
  
"To the college to go and help Buffy, she's going to try to get the dream orb from Jesse." He opens the door.  
  
Spike hesitates. "Can I come?" He asks quietly, looking down at the floor.  
  
Giles stops still, with the door wide open. He looks up at the sky. "Well, I think so, it is turning dark."  
  
Spike excitedly rubs his hands together, jumps over the sofa and follows Giles out the door.  
  
The camera remains on Giles' place. 5 seconds later  
  
Spike returns and jumps back through the door, closes it and leans back on it. He has a bit of steam rising off him.  
  
"Ow, Ow, Arghh.!!" He then composes himself. He opens the door again, talking to Giles, who is out of shot.  
  
"Yeah, give it a couple of minutes." He said. "I'll be right behind you."  
  
  
***********  
  
  
Buffy strode swiftly toward door 333, Willow behind her. The door was still broken from the last time she kicked it down. Buffy went to knock it but before she touched it fell inwards revealing Jesse sitting at his desk. They looked blankly at each other.  
  
"Oh, please come in." Jesse says sarcastically.  
  
"Hi." Buffy said and moved inside the room. "D'you know what?"  
  
Jesse shook his head. He got up from his desk and moved away from it.  
  
"No? Well it's a very long story, and the basic conclusion is that we need you're dream orb back. Apparently, something went wrong in the spell, and you're not gonna be safe with it at all, in fact, you're gonna be unsafe, unsafe as houses, and so you need to give it to us, except without touching it, and I really need to breathe now." She did. "So, terribly sorry about this but, they're never very safe in the first place, easy to corrupt and .......what is it?"  
  
"Who's that?" Jesse asked.  
  
Buffy turned around. "Oh, it's umm, our friend....."  
  
"William." Willow cut in, not wanting to call the figure in the doorway 'Spike', as it could be slightly alarming to Jesse that a stranger called Spike turned up in a black leather coat in his doorway with slight steam coming from his skin. She was guessing 'William The Bloody' would not go down a hit either.  
  
Spike looked annoyed. "you would not believe the kind of horrible things I did to the last person who called me William." He said to Willow, who simply shrugged and smiled. "Anyway, can I come in now?"  
  
"Please come in." Buffy signalled. "Also, tell me why you are here."  
  
"I came to help!"   
  
"Fine. However, we are not taking the kind of 'hands on' approach to stopping bad stuff that we usually do at the moment, so you may not enjoy it."  
  
"Oh, I can wait." Replied Spike, who sat down quite contently and stared around the room. He thought it was starting to make Xander's basement look good.  
  
Just as he thought of Xander, Xander walked in, obviously by instruction of Giles. This time not wielding a fire extinguisher. "Hey guys." He said walking in and sitting down next to Spike. They were both making themselves at home.  
  
"Hey" said Willow, who went to go and sit next to him and Spike. As she went there, she passed Jesse's desk, she saw a familiar picture. It was more like a symbol actually, of a cat, the symbol of 'Caediloche', she recognised.   
  
"And what are you doing here?" Asked Buffy.  
  
"I came to help. Giles said to come. He said it was this room."  
  
"I had to look it up on a computer." Said Spike, disappointed.  
  
"Why do you need so much help?" Asked Jesse, backing away, starting to get a bit concerned.  
  
"Calm down Jesse, they're for later...I forgot to ask you, how did you know how that orb worked? I mean, how did you hear about it?"  
  
"Well, it's a bit embarrassing. Ever since I thought I was abducted, three years ago, but couldn't prove it, I've been, well I've been having counselling. It was just that I started to doubt myself when I wanted to believe! I needed to make other people believe. But I couldn't. So, I enlisted for a councillor in High School, and when I came to choosing my college, I went for the one with the most reputable teacher-student counselling services." He produced a small yellow card with some writing and a black blob and handed it to Buffy.  
  
Willow saw this and rummaged about in her pocket. She pulled out the card Mr. Heely had given her. It was also yellow, with the name on top of the teacher who ran the counselling services, it was a funny name, something ..ccado, and the little black symbol was........it was.............  
  
It was a cat. The cat of 'Caediloche', her Celtic spellbook.  
  
Meanwhile, Buffy continued, "Go on."  
  
"My councillor told me that a good way to get rid of your nightmare was to know that you were safe. He's really into magic, so he told me that I could get a magic orb, only, he said I should go to Amber, or someone else in Wicca group, to promote College activities."  
  
"So who's your councillor?"  
  
Willow prepared herself for the answer she feared, 'Mr. Heely'......  
  
"Mr. Heeliccado."  
  
"What?" Asked Willow. "I expected you to say Mr. Heely."  
  
"Yeah, Mr. Heely is our shortened version of his name that we use for school, like a nickname."  
  
"Huh, well that's pretty stupid." She retorted.  
  
"Yeah," said Xander, "must remember to tell GILES that one." Meanwhile, Spike had got bored. He started opening Jesse's draws and rummaging around in them.  
  
"Buffy, I think, I think it was Mr. Heely who did the spell. He seems to know about magic, as he uses this ancient Celtic symbol of the cat. Also, I know amber has been seeing him in counselling since her mother died, so he would have known she could'a made the orb and where she did spells, AND he must have sensed you were the slayer 'cos he told me you were a bad influence!" Willow thought of his red hair, perhaps he was a descendent from the people who first wrote 'Caediloche'. Then she thought of his name....Heeliccado. Funny name, she thought. She got out her yellow card, swiped a pen from Jesse's desk and wrote it down.   
  
H E E L I C C A D O  
C A E D I L O C H E  
  
Then she realised. It was an anagram of Caediloche, Heeliccado. "AND, AND, AND, his name is an anagram of the name of a book of ancient Celtic spells."  
  
Xander gave his view of the events. "You think a teacher did this? No way! Creating whatever you most want to see then turning it against you so you're left a gibbering wreck of your former self? This stuff wreaks of hormones!"   
  
"Bad influence? I am so gonna kick his ass!" Was the focus of Buffy's thoughts, and her reply. "Oh, yeah, Jesse. Where is that orb?"  
  
"What's this?" Asked Spike. Everyone turned ready to say "NO DON'T TOUCH THAT", Xander was even going to add "YOU STUPID FANG BEAST!" to the end, but everyone was too late. Spike had picked up the Dream Orb.  
  
Note: It is now dark outside from gradually getting darker throughout the scene.   
  
He threw it to the floor. "Owch! That bastard thing just bit me!!! It was really painful, and this is coming from a guy who's just very nearly been fried alive!"  
  
Before anyone could contemplate what would happen next, or Xander could say "Sissy", a large rock came through the window, which was closed. Buffy and Spike ran to the window.  
  
"Dru? And Hufasta? What are you two doing here?" Spike asked in glee. His mood changed at the answer.  
  
"We've realised that you're one pathetic, waste of space, impotent loser. So, we're gonna kill you, isn't that right Dru?" Came a deep, grumbling voice.  
  
"You can't come in! You're not invited! I don't invite you!" Spike said.  
  
"Well, you could come out on you're own. But I sure hope you don't." Replied Hufasta as he sets fire to the building below Jesse's window, indulging in his favourite pass time.  
  
  
***********  
  
In side room, backing on to vestibule, with many people scuttling around in the background evacuating the building as the fire bell sounds.  
  
Coughing and spluttering Buffy leads the others out of the room. She opens her jacket and reveals the orb. Just in case, she carefully gives it to spike without touching it.  
  
"Spike, you guard this, seeing as you've only just touched it and you're materialiswhatsits are here. Also, stay here, in this side room. Hufasta and his demon friends shouldn't be able to come in and hurt if hide here. I'll be back soon, I'll try to kill them if we can't get the reversal spell, we know it can be done. Jesse, I should stay here too, you'll be safe with Spike. We're gonna go and see how Giles is doing with the reversal spell with Amber and try to find Mr. Heely...."  
  
"GILES!!" Willow exclaimed, "And Amber! I sent them to go and research the spell in my English lecture room 'cos it has loads of books! But Mr. Heely will be there, I mean, I asked his permission, but I think they still could be in mortal danger! I'm sorry, I forgot, what with all the arson!"  
  
"Oh God! Giles!" Buffy runs out. Willow and Xander follow her. Jesse is left with Spike.  
  
"Hey, wasn't you're name William a minute ago?"  
  
  
  
***********  
  
Int. English Lecture room, large frontal speaking area, with rows of seats escalating infront. Behind the speaking area is a library area, reminiscent of the back of the High School Library.   
  
Giles put down his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Nothing in that one I'm afraid." He said to Amber, a little disappointed.  
  
"That's okay, I'm sure we'll find more when Mr. Heely get's back from counselling."  
  
"Mr. Heely?"  
  
"He's the English teacher who uses this room. He also runs the student teacher counselling services I go to. He should be back soon. He's really into magic. He'll help us. Willow told me he'd be here."  
  
"Oh, marvellous." Giles replied.  
  
"Hello?" Came a voice from the back of the room.  
  
"Oh, hello, Mr. Heely? I'm Rupert Giles. Nice to meet you." Giles held out his hand for a handshake.  
  
"You too. Hi Amber," he glanced down at Amber then looked back at Giles. "So, you know Willow?" He received the handshake.  
  
"Well, actually, I used to be her school librarian." Giles said with great pride.  
  
"Oh, well. That must have been......nice."  
  
"Yes, well, we, urm, we are looking.."  
  
"For some help researching a spell? Willow told me, although, she didn't tell me which spell. We've got plenty. In fact, it's kinda a hobby of mine - spells. I have a smallish poetry section behind the seats and a large mythology/magic/evil section here."  
  
"Yes, this is quite intriguing. It actually reminds me of somewhere I used to work. I must admit I do miss it." Giles thinks of how out of touch he has become with Buffy now she goes to college and they did not really have a meeting place anymore. He knew he was no longer her watcher, but they still were a team. It just wasn't the same at her place. And this book collection seemed so good..........  
  
"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to leave it all behind."  
  
"Oh really? Oh dear, I am sorry to hear that." He said, very glad to hear that, wondering about any possible book gaining opportunities he could take advantage of. "But if you need anyone to take any of these off your hands I'd be more than happy to..."  
  
"Oh, it's not that I need to get rid of them. It's just that with the opening of the new Science block, I'm going to be moved to one of the old Science rooms. I think I will be urged to leave all this stuff behind. Apparently the room and it's contents are too musty - and it's a fire hazard, cos we can't hear the bell from here."  
  
"I was rather endeared to its mustiness actually." Giles said feeling blue. Feels like home, he thought. "It's not too musty." he muttered to himself.  
  
The fire alarm sounds in the background. It is very quiet. Nobody reacts.  
  
"It could be used as a reference room, or storage, or just boarded up."  
  
"What a waste. It couldn't be used as a library or something?"  
  
"This?! Oh no! We have a much better library than this could ever be already!" Giles looked around the room. He thought it would make quite a good library. It didn't have to be big.  
  
"Mr. Heely, Mr. Giles.....the spell?" She said softly, getting bored.  
  
"Right, yes," Giles got down to business, " we need to know the reversal spell for a Dream orb which has been corrupted.."  
  
"A Dream orb?" He walks over to a bookshelf. "Try this one." He says. He reaches up to the top of a bookshelf and pulls out a book. It had the symbol of a cat on it, Giles noticed. He brought it down and it was heavier than he realised, as he brought it down he could only just stop from hitting Giles below over the head with it as he heard...  
  
"DROP IT!"  
  
He turned around. Buffy Summers had entered the room.  
  
  
***********  
  
Int. small room adjoined to vestibule  
  
"So, you like Science Fiction, eh?" Spike asked, struggling to stay calm, stay on the lookout and make conversation at the same time.  
  
"Yes." Jesse said impatiently.  
  
"I can't stand the crap myself. More of a soap vampire, me. You like them?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Huh. So, what do you think of vampires? Dead cool I bet!"  
  
"I find the whole Gary Oldman scene corny."  
  
"Gary Old.... Hmm, never met him. Oh, perhaps I have. Did he have a large scar down his left cheek?"  
  
Jesse didn't want to carry on with this conversation so he tried to end it. He decided it was best to say: "Yes, that's him."  
  
"Didn't like him. Bit weird. Met him in Romania. Those were the days."  
  
"Can I hold the orb?"  
  
"No. Buffy said I should have it."  
  
"So, do you always do what Buffy tells you?"  
  
Spike didn't like his tone. He wanted to put this across in a threatening way. "I don't like your tone, mister!" He said threateningly.  
  
Jesse backed away. "Oh please, I just want to hold it - I don't want you to dent it!"  
  
"I'm gonna dent you're ass in a minute if you don't stop whining!"  
  
"Oh please." He whined. "It's very important to me."  
  
"Look, you're gonna be in REAL trouble when Buffy get's back if you've pissed me off!" He hoped, knowing he couldn't hurt him. Spike turned away from him, peering through the gap in the door.  
  
Jesse decided to take a new approach. He didn't have time for this, not for what he had planned. He reached for a pool cue which was lying around the side room and headed for Spike.  
  
***********  
Int. English room  
  
Buffy had run into the English room to see Mr. Heely about to knock Giles out with a magic book. Evil, she thought.  
  
"DROP IT!!" She said, pointing her crossbow at him. she had retrieved this from her dorm on the way there after discarding her black bag in Jesse's room - due to the slight barbeque element. "Although, not on Giles is what I mean." She stumbled. She tried to recover herself with the BAD image she likes to have when she fights, "I'll give you bad influence!"   
  
"Buffy? What's going on?"   
  
Amber was quietly sitting in the corner, bewildered by what was going on.  
  
"He did it Giles, it was him."  
  
Mr. Heely went pale. Giles backed away from him. Willow entered the room, having picked up a few charms she thought might help from her dorm, and also carrying her copy of 'Caediloche', under her arm. She runs over to Amber after a nod from Buffy and starts rapidly to look with her for some sort of reversal spell.  
  
"How?" Mr. Heely cleared his throat. "How did you know?"  
  
"You were the one who counselled both Amber and Jesse. You had the opportunity and, looky here, the knowledge of magic. We know that you're name's HeelicccaidiodyWileyCaiyote, or something, and you have something to do with that magic book Willow has over there with the cat symbol. The only thing I don't know is why. WHY?"  
  
Mr. Heely looked around at everyone. "Yes, I am Heeliccado of the ancient people of Caediloche, the mythical Island of Avalon, a race who were once keepers of the Holy Grail, followers of Arthur, founders of Camelot. Where we once walked is now, save Jerusalem, the holiest ground on Earth. When the children of our people spread out to cover the four corners of the globe, we took names which were anagrams of our old people, to remind us. My ancestors settled here in Sunnydale, where the lay lines showed up negative mystical energies to counter the ones radiating from our healing natural springs at home, which are stained red by the holy grail, and heal the lost, hurt or wounded. In learning as much as I could about the homeland I never grew up in, I discovered an affinity for poetry as I stumbled across Thomas Hardy - his work is mostly set in that part of the world. I then fell more and more into poetry and magic - a potent combination, I can assure you, meditation for the soul, both deep inside you and outside as you call upon deeper powers. I must say I withhold the theory that all good poets were either sorcerers or frustrated sorcerers." Willow's face lit up at this, she was obviously gonna be heading for a good grade, she thought. "I soon fell into teaching, after all, the aim of my people was to teach, spread the word. Although, Sunnydale is not like the Ancient Isle of Avalon, it has a dark, negative vibe lurking underneath, I realised soon that this must be the centre of some very dark forces. That was when I decided people needed more than just to learn, but to be advised and counselled, helped, with magic if needed. I realise my methods are far from conventional, but I find it can help - and it promotes Wicca group, a college based activity!" He said chirpily at the end.  
  
Note: The fire bell stops.  
  
"This is all very nice." Buffy said. "But I didn't ask for you're life history, or, you're theory on life, the universe and everything. You didn't answer my question!"  
  
"I did it because of John Keats."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We had a new assignment for the course, and it involved looking at Keats' life. He died tragically young of tuberculosis! Most of his poetry only spans four years! You kids should be starting to reach into yourselves and make poetry like him at this age! But you don't! I look at the kids today and they're not into religion, or fighting the good fight, or helping they're soul, or helping other people! They do drugs, and they drink, and they go to parties and listen to loud music!" Ironically, at this point from the dorm above, someone starts to play music, thumping music. "I hate whoever lives in that dorm! You kids should be delving deep into you're spirits, we need you to fight the good fight, and to do this you need to be prepared! But you can't be into you've read you're own souls. So I helped you along."  
  
"You wanted us to read our souls, you wanted the Dream Orb to show people what they most want, then what they most feared, you wanted it to get passed around the school by Jesse and in your counselling sessions, so you crept into the Wicca room after you knew Amber would have left and cast a corrupting spell over the Dream orb?" Buffy pieced together.  
  
As she speaks we see Mr. Heely walking into the Wicca room in the dead of night, looking round the room, spying something and heading towards the camera. Camera pan out to reveal the Dream orb. Mr Heely just stops short of it. Back to English room and Buffy for her to finish talking.  
  
Mr. Heely blanched. There was a pause.  
  
"Didn't you?" She said, not quite so sure of herself.  
  
"Well, no. I crept into the Wicca room in the dead of night, when I knew nobody would be there and borrowed the 'Clover of Ripitus'. I then proceeded to use this to...to....make a spell to draw a quite breathtaking mural of life and death on the wall of the gym. Quite thought provoking, but also vandalism in the eyes of the law. I am willing to come quietly." He holds out his hands as if he will be handcuffed.  
  
As he speaks we see Mr. Heely in the Wicca room as before, where we left him, but the cameras pans out again to reveal a bright pink clover just beyond the Dream Orb. Mr. Heely reaches out and grabs it, then looks around him before giving a satisfied grin. Back to English room for the end of his speech.   
  
Buffy throws down her crossbow in disgust. "What, that tiny little scribble? You did that? you didn't do the bad bad spell?"  
  
"No." replied Mr. Heely, still holding out his hands, expecting to be towed away.  
  
"You mean we still have to find out who did this? OH MAN, THIS SUCKS!" she shouted. Giles had gone to help Willow and Amber with the spell.  
  
Xander had been held up by the fact that he had specifically wanted to locate two fire extinguishers during a college fire and then had two tow them to the English room. He now struggled in, pointing them both at Mr. Heely.  
  
"Okay," He said. "Now, I've got double foam, and I'm ready to take you on baby! Nothing you say now is gonna save you, just call me the exterminator, ASTALAVISTA...." Xander tried to find a way of pulling the release mechanism on both the canisters at the same time, "Haha," He said trying to buy time, "Nothing's gonna stop me now," when he was stopped by a simple :  
  
"Xander." From Buffy, who widened her eyes at him and shook her head.  
  
He realised everyone was looking pretty cosy and the room was not trashed. He realised he had done it again. Damn. He scanned the room for a rodent to blame it on. None. Double Damn.  
  
He stifled a chuckle. "I'm sorry, wrong room." He said. "Harris,...  
  
"Pest control, right. How could I forget?"  
  
Xander forced laughter and even raised a finger to give a humorous gesture. He then turned around and scuttled out of the room after explaining. "We had word of a major, pest outbreak in the vicinity of........urm......California."  
  
"Xander get back here." Buffy said. "I need you to help the others search for a spell, you too Mr. Heely."  
  
"I'm not under arrest?"  
  
"No. you stay here, I've got to go and stall Hufasta and Spike's other buddies while you search. As the fire bell has stopped, something tells me they're gonna be tired of waiting outside......and that they're not gonna be pacifists. Oh, and Xander, put down the fire extinguishers - remind me to buy you a gun!"  
  
"Ohw." Moans Xander before placing the canisters on the ground. "But, Buffy, there's one thing I don't understand : If, Coppercurls here didn't do it, who did?"  
  
"I don't know, I don't know." She thought hard, there was something lying just below the surface in her brain that was just out of reach.  
  
I want to believe. I want to believe. I want to believe.  
  
At this point, the people in the dorm upstairs changed the song they were playing, and turned up the volume. It was the one she had heard outside the Bronze. The Devil You Don't Know by Face to Face, Track 11 on the soundtrack.  
  
'It's alright, everything is fine, you live the perfect life........  
  
What was it she wanted to think? all she could hear was differed voices saying 'I want to believe' over and over in her head.  
  
'So you've tried, you've made up you're mind,  
But something's still not right......  
........THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW IS STILL OUTSIDE'  
  
She wanted to think more clearly, but a number popped up in her head : 333.  
  
Close up on Buffy. She puts her hands to her face, as the voices go around. We hear her thoughts speeding through her brain :  
  
"333" she hears herself say.  
  
"I want to believe." In Willow's voice.  
  
"The Devil you don't know is still outside" She heard from the song.  
  
"You've all got that thing - you know - the crusade" in Xander's voice.  
  
"My ultimate aim......is to prove to the world"  
  
These repeat and speed up in her head until inaudible.  
The music from upstairs stops.  
Suddenly they all stop and there is silence except for one thing.  
  
"I want to believe - I guess he does." In Buffy's voice.  
  
Buffy looks up.   
  
Xander is currently talking to Giles.  
  
"It is quite funny though isn't it?" He says.  
  
"What?" Asks Giles.  
  
"Well, you're English, and you're in the English room, we should'a known you'd end up here sooner or later."  
  
"Xander, with comments like that, I can just hear a guest appearance on 'Friends' beconing."  
  
"Hey, gimme a break!"  
  
"Although, I do agree that I fit in here. I do rather like it already."  
  
"Guys!" Buffy butted in. "I think I've finally fitted together the last piece of the puzzle."  
  
  
  
***********  
Int. Side room to vestibule  
  
Spike swore very loudly. He lifted a hand to his head.  
  
"Oh, Bloody Hell!!" He cried. Jesse had just hit him over the head with a pool cue. "What's going on here?"  
  
"Gimme the Orb."  
  
"NO!"  
  
Jesse punched him in the face, for a person so medium sized and geeky-looking, he could hit deceptively hard.   
  
"Oh BLOODY HELL!!" Spike cried again. He dropped the orb and it rolled away under the crack under the door. "You messed with the wrong person this time!!" Spike changed into a vampire and tried to scare Jesse by waving his hands in the air.  
  
Jesse saw Spike's face and closed his eyes. When Jesse did not feel a blow, he opened them and Spike's arm movements provoked him to start laughing.  
  
"Oh, shut up you little squirt!" Spike said, disappointed.  
  
"Little Squirt? You won't be saying that soon! None of you will. Not when you realise that I have introduced you to the greatest scientific find of all time........extra terrestrial life forms!"  
  
As he speaks the dramatic music slowly reaches a crescendo. Then stops abruptly as the camera changes to Spike.  
  
"Oh what? You've got to be kidding me! They don't really exist!!! You know, like Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck?"  
  
"Oh, but they do exist.......I can make them exist! What you don't understand is that I have been trying to prove this to the world for years - trying to help people! But do they listen? No, never. They try to tell you that you're imagining things, have a nervous breakdown, insane! They cannot open they're minds. But now, I can make them come with my orb, and I will achieve my ultimate aim! And, now I will have complete control over what other people see and want!"  
  
"That's not how a Dream Orb works you pansy!"  
  
"No, but I've looked in Mr. Heely's magic book - I've corrupted the Orb! Soon everyone will want what I most desire! First Amy, then Willow, Buffy....."  
  
"No! That's not the corrupting spell! You're dreams are turned into nightmares! They'd only come after you to kill you!"  
  
"You're lying. You can't stop me now!" Jesse hit Spike in the face again.  
  
Spike flinched in pain. Then, he hit Jesse in the face, the implant in his head delivered a sharp dose of agony, again he flinched in pain. When Jesse hit him back, Spike decided to give him the finger instead. 


	6. I Want To Believe (6)

Int. College, corridor.  
  
Hufasta and his three demons are walking down the corridor. Drusilla is slowly walking behind them.  
  
"Here must be here somewhere,.....he's close! I can feel it." Echoed the deep booming voice of Hufasta.  
  
"I knew I'd find you here, I could smell you." Buffy said entering the corridor.  
  
"Go away Slayer. This does not concern you." Drusilla directed at Buffy.  
  
"Oh, it does concern me. This is my college, and when you guys turn all 'Firestarter' on it, I get kinda mad. And you're not gonna get Spike. That's just the way it is."  
  
"Why are you protecting him? He's pathetic, ridiculous, and even quite stupid!" Hufasta queried.  
  
"I don't know exactly why, but what I do know is that right now he is protecting something very important with someone who could be very dangerous and he's doing it 'cos I told him to. So, I'm not prepared to take any of you're crap!! Can we fight now please?"  
  
With this, Buffy started to fight. She swiftly kicked Hufasta in the chest. He knocked her crossbow out of her hands. Two of his henchmen ran towards her with swords and she looked either way, them jumped backward, doing a backward flip, leaving the henchmen to imapale each other on their swords and fall to the floor. She then kicked Hufasta's large blade out of his hands and threw it at the third henchman, who was trying to load her crossbow. She took the crossbow from his limp arms and held it at Hufasta. Hufasta first raised his hands as if he was going to surrender, then lunged at Buffy while she was off guard. Buffy quickly shot him in the leg. Hufasta knocked her to the floor. She jumped back up and kicked him a few times. He fell back. She picked up the crossbow and shot him a couple of times.  
  
"Considering you're not real, that was kinda fun!"  
  
It was only then that she realised Drusilla was nowhere in sight. She must have wandered of in the midst of all the fighting, Buffy thought, damn!  
  
  
***********  
Int. English room.  
  
Laid out on the table are numerous magic books and some magic equipment : candles, beads, charms and in the middle a big black drawing of a cat which Willow had just finished.  
  
"Are you sure this is it?" She asked Giles  
  
"I think so." Replied Mr. Heely  
  
"We have to try." Giles instructed  
  
The five of them joined hands round the table, with Mr. Heely reluctantly taking Xander's hand. At the front, Giles read aloud from Willow's book of 'Caediloche':  
  
"For all events the will transcribes........  
  
A light starts to glow around the symbol of the cat on the table.  
  
***********   
  
Int. Side room.  
  
Spike decided he was in less pain just letting Jesse hit him. So he did. Jesse hit him backwards so he fell on the door, opening it. Jesse ran out to find the orb.  
  
Spike rubbed his eyes. Then he slowly opened them.  
  
There was a shadowy figure in a long black coat standing over him.  
  
"Hello, darling." It spoke.  
  
"Dru?" He asked. As the figure came into focus he realised that it was Dru standing over him.  
  
And that she had in her hand a stake which, if he wasn't very much mistaken, had his name on it. ( Not literally obviously!)  
  
He rolled away, and she brought the stake down where he had been lying.  
  
"Dru, love," he said backing away, "we can talk about this."  
  
"You are so vile. I like vile, but I don't like you! You were a lazy, stupid vampire, now you're a traitor. I can't believe Angel and I used to put up with you!" She said walking towards him.  
  
"Hey! You do know I can hurt you, don't you darling?"  
  
"Mmm, and I can hurt you." She threw the stake through the air at Spike. He ducks, narrowly avoiding it.  
  
"Dru!!"  
  
"Spike, it's not the real Drusilla! Remember that!" Buffy says running into the room. She runs straight for Drusilla and kicks her so she falls to the floor.  
  
"I caused a chick fight? Cool." Spike praises himself.  
  
"Why did you have to stick you're nose in?" Drusilla asked Buffy, getting back on her feet and heading for her. Buffy gets ready to punch her, but Drusilla just looks into her eyes to work her hypnotic magic :  
  
"Look into my eyes....." She starts. Buffy does not and hits her again, but Drusilla grabs her hand and stares deep into Buffy, causing a painful sensation on Buffy's retina.  
  
Spike starts to get worried. "Uh, Buffy?"  
  
"Look deep into my eyes......" Drusilla continues.  
  
Close up on Drusilla's eyes, then Buffy's. Camera stays on Drusilla as there is a large thwack and Drusilla is knocked down. Then pan up to see Spike with a large board of wood he had torn off from the side of a pool table. He shrugs.  
  
Buffy recovers and he tosses her the wood.  
  
"I can't hurt her. Well, I can't hurt her more than I just have done." Spike says by way of explanation.  
  
Buffy nods and breaks off a bit of wood into something resembling a steak. She moves to where Drusilla is lying on the floor.  
  
"I don't think I ever thanked you for killing my friend Kendra, did I Dru?" With that, Buffy quickly staked Drusilla.  
  
She dusted herself. "Thanks for saving me back there, evil guy." She says light heartedly.  
  
"Hmph. Yeah, but I think it was you saving me!"  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"Just a bit squished and dented. Not too serious for a vampire."  
  
Just then there is a bright light, a high pitch noise, and a large wind.  
  
"Oh, no! did you let Jesse have the Dream Orb?"   
  
"I didn't LET the little squirt have anything! Have you forgotten the slight 'Do not hit humans' clause in my latest contract with the commando guys?"  
  
"Of course I haven't forgotten, I'm not stupid - I had to come and save you didn't I?"  
  
"Oh no you're not stupid, you just let Dru look you in the eyes so I have to come and save you!"  
  
"Hey, I saved you!"  
  
"Did not! I saved you!"  
  
"No! I saved you!" She could see that this argument was going nowhere.  
"Dammit!" Buffy said and ran out, forcing her way against the wind into the vestibule, where windows where smashing.  
  
  
***********  
Int. English room. The spell is finishing. The bright lights and wind come up here too. willow and Xander look frightened around and at each other.  
  
Giles, despite the high pitched noise is trying to finish the spell.  
  
"And so, I call upon powers deep, to awaken from their timeless sleep,  
To treasure all the is real, to banish dreams and then to heal....."  
  
As he spoke, Willow remarked to herself, how much she thought the spell was like a poem. Funny that.  
  
As he spoke, Xander remarked at how much the scar on his arm was like a freckle. Funny that.  
  
They were all concentrating deeply. Well, some of them.  
  
  
***********  
  
Int. Vestibule.  
  
Buffy runs in and sees Jesse standing over by the door. He is holding his hands up to the bright light in the sky.  
  
"They're here! They're here!"  
  
Buffy runs in as far as she can go against the wind and shouts "Jesse! come away from the light!!"  
  
"No! You can't stop me now! I have evidence! you cannot deny they're existence any longer!"  
  
"Get away from the door you freak!" Came the voice of Spike from behind her, he had followed her in.  
  
"Come on Jesse, they'll kill you!!" She pleaded.  
  
"You're lying, I've been trying to contact them!"  
  
"It's not really them Jesse!"  
  
"IT IS! IT IS! IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN!"  
  
"Jesse! Come away from there now! They're gonna kill you - AND I DON'T THINK I CAN SAVE YOU!!!" She shrieked.  
  
Then Jesse moved forward into the light. "I don't want you to save me - you can't save me! After all this time they're the only ones who can save me."  
  
The light intensified over Jesse and Buffy lifted a hand up to her eyes. She looked as hard as she could - but she couldn't see Jesse any more. "Jesse?" She asked. "Jesse?!"  
  
  
***********  
Int. English room.  
  
Giles finishes the spell,  
  
"Bring light from dark to quell, the evil forces of the spell."  
  
He broke the connection of hand holding and held out his hand to Mr. Heely, who gave him a charm in the shape of a cat.  
  
Giles threw this into the centre of the beads on the table. They all watched as the black crayon drawing of the symbol of the cat started to light up and glow. It became bright and brighter. They all backed away from the table just before the symbol vanished completely and the table split in half.  
  
At that moment the bright light, high-pitched noise and strong wind ceased.  
  
They looked at each other.  
  
"I think it worked." Giles commented.  
  
"Oh sure," Xander said, "but the table will never be the same again!"  
  
  
***********  
Int. Vestibule  
  
Buffy brought her hands down from her eyes as the bright light stopped. She runs forward out of the large door to where Jesse was standing. He was nowhere to be seen.  
  
On the floor, where he was standing, was the Dream Orb. It was now not clear glass as it was, but completely black and opaque.   
  
She hesitates before picking it up. Dead, she thought. No more evil coming from this.   
  
She looks up at the sky, wondering about Jesse, what happened to him, and how his dream had killed him like it had nearly killed her and Willow. Everything seemed so still now.  
  
So still...........  
  
"BLOODY HELL! Did they take him then? Well that's majorly unsettling. Makes you feel unsafe to sleep at night." said Spike, startling her as he walked up behind her. He looked so unphased.   
  
"Well, seeing as the both of us spend our nights beating up demons and other nasties I shouldn't worry about it."   
  
"True. You do know that beating up nasties is actually a lot safer....Well, I mean, now I'm out of the game."  
  
Here we go, thought Buffy.  
  
  
***********  
  
Giles' Place Ext. Establishing. (Next Morning.)  
  
Giles' Place Int.  
  
Buffy, Willow, Xander and Spike are all lounging around Giles' living room.  
  
"So," Buffy continued, "Jesse found out about how to make a Dream Orb from his counselling sessions with Mr. Heely, who helped him without realising it. He then did his own reading to find out about it - and liked what he saw about the Dream Orb, except he didn't have a wide range of knowledge of magic and he tried to corrupt it in the night to help him to prove to the world there were aliens about."  
  
"But what I don't understand is, why did he sneak in at night to corrupt it when he was going to get it anyway - it doesn't make sense."  
  
"It was insurance I s'pose. He didn't want anyone to know that it was a spell that made the aliens come at first, and I'm guessing he would have wanted Amy to touch the Orb and to becone his official Orb maker for circulation, to make everyone believe. I think he really cracked up at the end. He couldn't handle anymore jokes about what he believed in. Unfortunately for him, the spell wasn't what he thought. Here." Buffy said, opening Willow's 'Caediloche'. "It says here:  
  
'The orb has a power, for those dark at heart to deploy,   
To make others see as they wish, in a fashion you would enjoy.'"  
  
"Hmm. It is confusing." Willow agreed. "Wow, so he really did wanna get aliens and take control of the world."  
  
"....And he would'a done it too, if it weren't for you pesky kids!!!" Buffy said in her best baddie accent, it was her way of praising the Scooby gang. "....And teachers, of course." She added, remembering Giles and Mr. Heely.   
  
"How did you know it was Jesse who did it?" Asked Xander.  
  
"He hit me over the head with a pool cue." Spike replied.  
  
"Not you!...Buffy" Xander pointed out, pointing at Buffy.  
  
"I just heard that song, 'The Devil You Don't Know' and what people had been saying over the past few days whirling about in my head. I just remembered how much he wanted to believe. Oh, and also - and this was clever.... I remembered his dorm number was 333!"  
  
Everyone looks at her.  
  
"I expected clapping for that. You know, 333, the Devil's number......I thought anyone with that number dorm had to be up to something fishy."  
  
"Uh, Buffy. People are issued with dorms, they don't choose the number." Willow pointed out. "Also, 333 wasn't the Devil's number, it was 666 actually."  
  
"It was? Oh, well forget that bit then - I had very little foundation for my suspicions."  
  
Xander just realises what they are talking about. "Hey, yeah, like 666, except 333. Hey, he's like our little pint sized evil."  
  
"I'm so glad this is over." Buffy remarks. "It was real hell having all our dreams come true like that. We can finally be so much happier now."  
  
They all sit there in silence feeling blue.  
  
"It was tough seeing Oz again." Willow said.  
  
"It was tough - and painful seeing Angel again."  
  
"Yeah, and Dru." Spike agreed.  
  
"Hey, I just realised my dreams didn't come true and turn against me so that I felt like hell." Everyone looks at him expecting him to be pleased. "This SUCKS! I feel so left out. I hate not going to college."   
  
Giles walked in just to hear him say this.  
  
"Good news!" He exclaimed walking in.  
  
"Ooh, Yey!" Enthused Buffy. "I don't think it's been good news when you've called us round here for, well, ever."  
  
"Well it's good news now. I must confess, I have been missing our old library somewhat, and I heard from Mr. Heely that he was moving from his English room. I took the liberty of asking what was going to happen to it - he said nothing. So I applied in to the college to set up a little second library - you know, in case something happens to the original one."  
  
"Giles, what's gonna happen to a library?.......Oh yeah, what happened to ours, I suppose." Buffy realised. "Did they agree to that?"  
  
"No."  
  
Oh, no. Buffy thought. What a shame, he needed something to occupy him, and it would be good to see him around college more, it would give the Scooby gang a base too.  
  
"But I thought this was good news?" Buffy remembered  
  
"It is, they offered me a placement there and due to my teaching qualifications they offered me a class. Apparently they want to offer more choice and once I started talking about mythology..."  
  
"Wait up!" Xander said. "You have a teaching qualification? Cool, I never knew that."  
  
"...As I was saying, I can start it up half way through term to offer people and extra subject to study and offer civilians a chance to study part time. Mythology is perfect for my books and Mr. Heely's old books put together."  
  
"How many students do you have so far?" Asked Spike, who was sceptical.  
  
"Well, at the moment........one."  
  
"Who's is the loser studying 'Mythology'?" Asked Xander.  
  
"Well, his name's Xander Harris actually." Said Giles rather disappointedly expecting Xander to be please to have joined his friends at college.  
  
Xander turned around. "What?" He smiled. "I can go to college?!!!"  
  
"Yes, seeing as it is a part time course for civilians and a subsidiary course..."  
  
But Xander wasn't listening. He was too busy doing a funny little dance singing, "I'm going to college. I'm going to college. I'm going to college."  
  
"Yeah, I can see you're social status just rocketing already." Scoffed Spike.  
  
"I think it's great news Giles! We can all assemble together when there's danger and it doesn't have to be here......not that here's not good." Willow tried to assure Giles.  
  
"Well I think it is good. Spike, how would you like to join the class?"  
  
"You must be joking! Anyway, It would never work going to college every day - (I tan easily - you know, the kind of tan where you end up as dust?)"  
  
"Good excuse." Giles said. "But I could make it evening classes."  
  
Spike looks scared. So does Xander.  
  
"Please don't." Xander said. "I would like to have a life."  
  
"Fine." Giles gave in.  
  
"Good." Buffy, said. "I can feel the start of a whole new era occurring - and a good one." Happy music rises, focus in on Buffy's happy face as she looks to the future. She snaps out of it and the music changes. "You know what that means don't you?"  
  
Giles looked blank.  
  
"That, as everything is changing, I should really start driving lessons." Buffy decided to bring into the conversation.   
  
  
***********  
Int. Buffy and Willow's dorm. (Afternoon)  
  
Buffy is sitting on her bed. Willow is at Wicca group. There is a knock on the door.  
  
"Come in." She says, not as cautious as Willow.  
  
"Hi Buffy."   
  
It was Riley. She realised that she hadn't spoken to him since the night Angel died. He had obviously been keeping a low profile, waiting before she'd cooled down before approaching her again. He always knew what to do, she thought, and I never do.  
  
"Hi Riley. How are you?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good." There was a pause before Buffy continued. "Look, Riley, I'm sorry I was mad, I realise you were only trying to help me, and I realise now, just how glad I am that you did."  
  
"No, Buffy I'm sorry."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Whatever I did that made you mad before. I'm not exactly sure what."  
  
"Well, it wasn't you're fault. It was totally my bad, and I'm trying to make everything good again."  
  
"Were you mad because it made you think that I thought you couldn't look after yourself ?- 'Cos I totally think you can."  
  
No. It was because you killed Angel, she wanted to say, and because of all the pain and sorrow and Armageddon that was unearthed when I saw Angelus. She wanted to tell him about how she felt, and all she had been through and had to experience. But she knew she couldn't. Not yet, at least, she wasn't ready.  
  
"Yeah, that was it. But it's okay, I realise now that it was the right thing for you to do, and I'm very grateful."  
  
He smiled at her. "I'm glad you're not upset anymore. I'm going down to the pub on campus, would you like to join me - soft drinks only, I know how you hate beer."   
  
Oh yeah, she thought, I don't ever want to end up as B.C. Buffy again. "Sure, that would be nice. I'll be right down. There's just something I have to do first, ok?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
When he had left the room she picked up her coat and pulled out her new cell phone she thought it was worth the money, as it could be very handy. She had some unfinished business to do, she had to make a phone call and start to be friendly with someone she'd lost. She felt it almost happen before, but she wasn't strong enough to do it . It was all she had been able to think about lately, she had to do it now, just so she could think straight.  
  
She also pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket which had some numbers written on it in black ink.  
  
She dialled these into the phone. It started to ring at the other end.   
  
"Hello?" Came a voice.  
  
"Angel?"   
  
  
  
THE END  
***********  
That's all folks, but I am hoping to write other episodes to follow on from this, so watch out for them. Part 2 of the SCIENCE AND NATURE SERIES IS CALLED "A LITTLE SOUL"  
  
By Clarissa Maycock.  



End file.
